Storm Without Rain
by NoItsBecky
Summary: "This entire thing is because of some mistakes we all made. We shouldn't have made that deal. Axel shouldn't have taken that potion. Ivor shouldn't have spawned the Wither. I bet none of us meant for it to turn out this way. But when the world's being destroyed, our intentions don't matter, if they ever did in the first place." TW: Child abuse and a lot of profanity.
1. Game Starts Here!

**What's going on, guys and girls and genderqueers, it's your girl, NoItsBecky, and I am BACK!**

 **So, this is the rewrite of my fanfic. You'll notice some similarities, but you'll also notice a hell of a lot of differences.**

 **I'm pretty proud of this, and I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

So, take the smallest town you can think of.

The everyone-knows-everyone kind of town.

You know the type. A town where they can have a sign stating the population, because it almost never changes. (This town doesn't, but it could.)

This is where our story begins-in the small town of Acacia Gardens.

Well, that's technically a lie.

In reality, our story begins just outside the town. You see, surrounding this town is a forest. In this forest, there is a cave.

This cave isn't fully underground. There's an opening to the surface, and torches light just about every area.

In the middle of this cave are two girls. They're sitting on separate beds that are poorly made.

One of the girls is around 5'11" and has shoulder-length flaming red hair that is completely natural, freckles, brown eyes, and possibly a genetic mutation that causes there to be almost no indication on her chest that she's a girl. She appears to be in her late teens.

That's Petra Johnson, one of the two inhabitants of this cave.

The other girl is around 6'3" and has a dark auburn ponytail that reaches just past her shoulders, green eyes, freckles, and possibly that same genetic mutation. She's holding a list written in a messy scrawl, and she looks to be a few years older than Petra.

That's Ellie Johnson, the other inhabitant of the cave.

This is where our story begins.

Ellie read over the list she was holding. "Okay, so for today, our only deal is that creepy dude with the beard who wanted the wither skull. Ivor, I think. The one who almost turned us down when he found out you're barely out of high school."

Petra rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah. Remind me again why we didn't just punch him in the face and walk away?"

"Because he's giving us a diamond, so we can't afford to be rude, even if he's an asshole who thinks kids are automatically bad at stuff like this." Ellie reminded her.

"The things we do for money…"

"Yeah, it really is ridiculous, isn't it? But in any case, we've got the skull, so I guess we should just get things in advance."

"Yeah, that sounds like the best idea. Well, that and checking on the building competition to make sure the Ocelots and Jesse's group don't fucking murder each other."

"Yeah, go ahead, just leave me to do the deals alone." Ellie said bitterly.

"Oh, stop." Petra scoffed. "It's not that hard, and the building competition isn't too far. Remember? They're holding Endercon nearby this year. Do the easy ones while I'm abandoning you."

Ellie did a fake pout.

"Stop trying to make me pity you; it's not happening."

"Fine."

The two girls could've went on talking until their semi-argument turned into banter-they'd done it before-but there were deals to do. They were all pretty average. Wood. Seeds. Flowers. Cobblestone. Stuff like that. Some days Petra didn't understand why people got stuff from them when they could get it from a store. Maybe because they could choose the price. Maybe because in their minuscule town, not everything was sold at a store. Maybe when they looked at Petra and Ellie, all they saw were the little adopted girls abandoned by the fountain in the center of town, and they felt bad for the two of them. Whatever the reason, people got stuff from the two of them, and Petra sure as fucking hell wasn't complaining.

A few deals later, Petra abandoned Ellie in order for nobody to murder each other. It was for a good cause.

"Hey, you guys." She said, silently praying to Notch that everyone was going to survive this.

"Hey, Petra." Jesse said. It was obvious to Petra that Jesse was trying to act cool. It failed horribly.

"So...how's the build going?" It was the first thing that came to mind, and she didn't realize how stupid of a thing it was to say until after it was out of her mouth. _The competition hasn't even started!_ Petra mentally scoffed at herself.

Jesse looked at her team's plot. Then she turned back to Petra. Back at the plot, and back at Petra. "Does that empty plot look like a build to you?" She asked jokingly.

Petra forced a laugh. "No, I guess not." She admitted.

"Well, the competition may not have started, but the Order of the Pig's got a good plan." Jesse stated.

Petra was still and silent for a good five seconds before she said, "The Order of the... _what_?"

"Order of the Pig." Jesse repeated simply.

"Is your team called...Order of the...Pig?" Petra asked with a deadpan expression on her face.

"Yeah."

"But... _why?_ " That was all Petra knew how to say.

Jesse shrugged. "The Order's cool, and we have a pig." She gestured to Reuben, who was by her side.

"Okay..." Petra said, a little unsure.

"Hey, Petra." Lukas showed up, and suddenly her distaste of Jesse's team's name was forgotten. "I forgot to thank you and Ellie for that Nether Star on Friday. Tell her thanks."

"Hey, Lukas." Petra said a little awkwardly. "It's not a problem. Not like we were going to do much with it, anyway. We'd had the damn thing for over a year."

"You _helped_ these tools?" Axel looked surprised.

Petra shrugged nonchalantly. "We'll help anyone so long as they offer a decent price. Ever need anything, well, our door is always open for business." She started making her way back into the forest. She'd distracted the groups from each other. Her mission was accomplished.

"But we don't know where to find the door!" Olivia called after her.

"Exactly." Petra supposed it probably seemed strange to other people that nobody knew where she and Ellie lived except for her and Ellie themselves, but neither of them cared.

Petra could faintly hear Lukas talking behind her, but it was a fucking mystery to her what he might be saying. "Hey, Ellie? You there?" Petra called once she was back in the woods.

"Yeah, I'm there. Or maybe I'm here. I'm somewhere near."

"Ellie, seriously."

"Okay, fine." Ellie emerged from a cluster of trees. "Well, while you were abandoning m-"

"It was for a good cause. They would've murdered each other."

"Fine. While you were keeping your friends from murdering each other, I did a few of the less complicated deals. The list is still pretty long-strange how many people ask us for things, especially considering this town's population-but hey, more deals means more money." Ellie shrugged.

"Yeah. But just for the record, we're not friends. Aside from Lukas, the Ocelots are total bitches, and even if they aren't bitchy to me specifically, they're still bitchy, so I don't care about them. As for Jesse's group…well, yeah. You've met them."

"I'm a bitch, and you care about me." Ellie pointed out.

"We don't have much of a choice but to care about each other. I mean, we could hate each other, but that would suck because we live together."

And so continued the process of getting stuff for deals. It was starting to get dark outside when a familiar scream rang through the air.

Ellie looked startled. "You heard that too, right?"

"If you mean the sound of Jesse making ears bleed, damn right I heard that."

"Alright, it's night and Jesse sucks at fighting. I'm guessing she got assaulted by monsters." Ellie guessed. She paused, thinking. "Huh. Why wouldn't she be at Endercon?"

"I don't know! Does it really matter?" Petra scoffed. "Even if it isn't Jesse, _someone_ is screaming, and people don't scream like that for no reason." The next course of action for them was to run in the direction of the scream. After a few minutes, they found Jesse, pinned to the ground by a spider with no sword.

She and Ellie intervened, and seconds later the mobs were dead.

"Where the hell did you two come from?!" Jesse demanded.

"Not important." Ellie responded.

"Just come on. We need to get out of the open." Petra said simply.

Ellie and Petra led Jesse to their cave. "Do you two _live_ here?" Jesse asked incredulously.

"Define living." Ellie said. "We survive here, more like."

Petra punched her older sister playfully. "Ignore her. She's crazy. We live here."

"Damn. I'm in the home of Petra and Ellie Johnson. This is a major accomplishment."

"Yeah, whatever." Petra rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, though, where did you come from before? Are you two just, like, everywhere?"

"Yep. We're magical." Petra joked.

"Alright, now you ignore _her._ She's the crazy one. She's pinning the blame for being crazy on me so nobody knows."

"Never mind ignoring or not ignoring you; I just want to get to Endercon."

 _Skull?_ Petra mouthed to Ellie. For some reason, she had the idea to show Jesse the skull. It was beyond her why it had even crossed her mind, but it had.

Ellie shrugged. _I guess, but secret._ The message was clear. Swear her to secrecy.

"Well, there's something we'd like to show you first."

"Fine." The three girls entered the cave. "Look, this is a really cool dimly-lit tunnel, don't get me wrong, but this thing you guys want to show me isn't too far away, right?" Jesse appeared to be a little scared, despite her efforts to hide it.

"Jeb, Jesse, it's not _that_ dark. Are you _trying_ to get a reputation as a wimp?"

"My Notch, you two, this isn't my first time in a cave, you know."

"No? Is it your second?" Ellie quipped.

Jesse rolled her eyes. "That's my private business."

"So basically, it _is_ your second." Ellie said.

"Still my private business here!"

"Ellie, you're torturing her." Petra cut in. "Well, in any case, have you ever seen a wither skull?" She took it out of the endless pocket everyone had because screw physics and everything they had ever learned in science class.

Jesse's eyes widened, and she leaned forward slightly, as if seeing it from where she was wasn't enough to confirm that this was real. "Holy crap!" She exclaimed.

"Fresh from the Nether."

Jesse was awestruck. Ellie said, "You're the first person aside from us to see it. You'd better be grateful."

"You two risked your notchdamn _lives_ for that dusty old skull?"

"No." Ellie scoffed. "Of course we didn't. Why would we do that?"

"We risked our lives for the thing we're going to _exchange_ for that dusty old skull." Petra continued.

"Which would be…?"

"There's this guy we're going to meet up with at Endercon. He's going to trade us a diamond for it."

"So you never bothered to ask him about it? It seems just a little strange to me."

"And it would seem strange to him if we asked why he wanted something." Petra pointed out. "He already almost turned us away because I'm, in his words, a _child_. We don't need to push our luck by asking him about why he wants what he wants. We don't ask. We just deliver."

"You wouldn't need to be weird about it. You could just be all, 'Hey, what's with your totally normal and not at all weird skull thing?'"

"Jesse, have you ever stopped to consider that maybe there's a reason nobody ever takes your advice?" Ellie said dryly.

"No, not really. Should I?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you should."

"Fine, I guess I'll I'll consider it. In any case, _wow._ "

"Uh…sorry for telling the truth, I guess?" Ellie muttered.

"No, not that. Wow that in a single day, you two went to the Nether and killed a fucking _Wither Skeleton_ …I mean, I _did_ help my friends build a damn cool statue, but I guess it's pretty sweet being you guys, right?"

" _Sweet?_ " Petra spat out the word like having it unsaid left a bad taste in her mouth. "Jesse, I don't know much, but trust me when I say that is it in _no way_ sweet being us."

Jesse started to say something, but didn't bother. Well, great, Petra had just fucked things up. Social interactions had never been her forte.

Oh, fuck it. "Look, if you want to, you could come with us. To the deal."

Ellie had an I-don't-know-what-the-hell-you're-doing-but-I'll-roll-with-it expression on her face, which was understandable. "That is, if you aren't a chicken."

Jesse rolled her eyes, Petra's outburst seemingly having been forgotten by her. "I'm not Marty McFly. Calling me chicken won't get me to do something." Petra looked at her blankly. "Marty McFly? Back to the Future? Any of that ringing a bell?"

Oh. Back to the Future. That series of movies that everyone else seemed to have watched. "Right. That. Anyway, it might seem pretty damn scary, but it's just an offer."

"Are you kidding?" Jesse looked like it was Christmas, her birthday, and the last day of school rolled into one. "I'd _love_ to come."

"Okay, cool." Petra said. "Just try to keep quiet."

"Why?"

"Because this is a fucking diamond on the line. The last thing we need is someone fucking this up." Ellie stated bluntly.

"Okay, then." Jesse looked a little weirded out. The two of them had that effect on people sometimes, especially people like Jesse.

They came to a crafting table and chest. "You two just keep a crafting table down here?"

"Yeah. It comes in pretty damn handy. Anyways, I'm assuming that wooden sword of yours got busted, since you didn't seem to have it and being attacked by monsters calls for swords." Petra decided to shut her mouth before she started rambling.

"You're right about that." Jesse nodded. "You're giving me a new one?"

"Fuck that. Here's something better-you can make your own. Just grab anything you need in the chest. I'm assuming you know what the recipe is." Petra hoped she did, anyway. It was typically common knowledge, but knowing Jesse, it was all too possible that she didn't.

"You confuse me." Ellie muttered so only Petra could hear.

"And you confuse me. I guess we're even."

"Are you sure we're even related?"

"Who knows?"

Jesse interrupted the little bit of banter. "Do you guys own all this?"

"No." Petra said, rolling her eyes. "We're just stealing from whoever the hell was dumb enough to leave it there. And yes, someone else was dumb enough to leave their stuff in a cave inhabited by someone else."

"Yeah, we're thieves." Ellie said sarcastically. "You've know us for seven years and you somehow haven't managed to figure it out, but yeah. We're thieves."

"Of _course_ we own it!" Petra scoffed.

"Okay, point taken. Jeb, I was just making sure. Oh! Here we go. Jackpot." Jesse pulled out the pieces she needed and placed them on the table, making a sword.

"See, isn't it better when you make it yourself?" Petra asked.

"No, not really." Jesse deadpanned.

"Well, okay then. Anyway, let's go."

They left the cave and started walking across the bridge. It had been there when they'd first moved into their cave, and it didn't appear to be leaving anytime soon. Petra and Ellie theorized that the cave had been used for mining, and that the bridge had been for quick travel.

"Check it out." Petra commented. "Endercon's all lit up." There was a beacon shifting colors.

"Aw, dammit." Jesse said. "Looks like Lukas and those Ocelots won again."

"Sorry, Jesse. You have to admit, though-that beacon looks pretty fucking great."

"Yeah, yeah." Jesse didn't acknowledge that Petra was right-it looked awesome. "I just wanted this to be the year we finally beat those assholes. Especially since Endercon's being held in our town this year. It was like our year, you know?" Jesse sighed.

"I get what you mean." Petra said. "I can't help but wonder why they're holding Endercon in our tiny and pathetic excuse for a town this year, though. I mean, you can barely even call it a town."

"I don't know, but I'm not complaining." Jesse replied. "I mean, it's always in the general area, so it's never too hard to get there, but it's nice to have it, like, five minutes away from the door. Definitely an improvement."

"Wait, before, did you call Lukas an asshole?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." Jesse shrugged.

"Okay, um, Petra might want to push you off this bridge now."

"Ellie, stop."

"Oh, are you referring to her blatantly obvious crush on him? If that's the case, then yeah."

"What the hell are you two going on about?"

Ellie and Jesse exchanged glances, like they'd been best friends for years and Petra was the newcomer. "Like I said, your blatantly obvious crush on Lukas." Jesse said, giggling. Well, she was fucked.

"You're crazy." Petra did her best to deny it, but the heat in her face made it obvious that she was failing. "I don't like him as anything more than a friend."

"Alright, let's try this again." Ellie said, snapping me out of my random bullshit thoughts. "This time, be honest. Like Jesse said, your blatantly obvious crush on Lukas."

"Why are you two ganging up on me?"

"Because we can, and because eventually you'll admit it."

Petra sighed. She knew that, as much as she tried to hide it, anyone who looked closely enough could see the truth-that she liked Lukas a lot, and not just as a friend. Who wouldn't? He was handsome, a great person...aside from his being a bit arrogant, Petra couldn't find any major flaws about him. Back in sixth grade, he'd been the only one willing to talk to the antisocial redheaded girl who sat in the back of the classroom.

It hadn't been love at first sight. Petra knew all too well that no kind of love at first sight existed. She'd fallen in love pretty quickly, though.

But if there was one thing Petra wasn't, it was stupid. Not in school terms, but in life terms. She knew that she and Lukas would never be a thing. For one thing, if she had a dollar for every time he had called her his friend, she and Ellie wouldn't have to do deals just to scrape by. Second, he was way out of her league. He was attractive, she wasn't. He was a good person, she wasn't. He had a real future ahead of him, while her only future? It consisted of spending the rest of her life doing deals with Ellie just to get by. It was a future of calculating what they _really_ needed and what they could do without. A future of staying up all night to get the things they needed to trade.

It almost couldn't be considered a future.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that she and Lukas could never be more than friends.

But if Jesse and Ellie were just going to keep asking..."Jeb, fine. _Maybe_ I like him as a little more than a friend, but it's not like it matters."

"Success!" Jesse cheered.

"Congratu-fucking-lations." Petra scoffed. "You got me to confess. You had to gang up on me to do it, but you did it. Are you proud of yourself?"

"Very."

"That…was…rhetorical."

"You need to tell us these things."

"What, when a question is rhetorical or when I'm crushing on someone?"

"Just stop." Ellie said. "You two are ridiculous. Was I like this when I was your age?"

Petra shrugged. There was supposed to be a mother to answer questions like this, wasn't there? Petra supposed it was just another example of their fucked up life that they pretended wasn't half as fucked up as it really was for some reason.

"I don't know. Were you?" Petra wasn't sure whether nobody had ever taught Jesse that it was dumb to throw people's questions back at them, or if she'd been taught things like that but didn't care. She had a sneaking suspicion it was the latter.

The random and pointless banter could've continued for a ridiculous amount of time if they'd let it, but the three of them had an Endercon to get to. "Hey, remember what Endercon was like back before it became cool?" Petra asked.

"Damn right I do. Do you two remember what we were like before we were cool?"

"Wait, we're cool?" Ellie turned to Petra in mock surprise. "Petra, did you _know_ about this?"

"No! I can't believe it! I thought we'd never be cool!" The sarcasm was practically dripping from Petra's voice, but it was more humorous than mocking.

"Okay, point taken, ha ha." Jesse rolled her eyes. "Let's just go." They continued crossing the bridge. That is, until they were stopped by the one thing nobody anywhere on the planet of Minecraftia liked seeing. "Creepers!" They turned around to see zombies emerging from the cave. Petra couldn't help but wonder why there were monsters, considering she and Ellie slept in there every night, and they'd lit up every inch of the cave pretty well, but there was no time to consider things like that at that moment. "Crap."

Ellie didn't waste any time. "We have to jump!"

"We can't jump!" Jesse exclaimed. "We'll die! Are you insane?"

"Of course we are." Those were the last words Petra said before she shoved Jesse off the bridge. The next course of action was for her and Ellie to immediately jump off.

* * *

Hey, peeps. It's me, the author. I've decided to go into underlines instead of bold, because on the last version of this story I got positive feedback to a certain two characters doing the note. Just to get the important stuff out of the way, the final word count for this chapter was 3,859.

 **Can we go now?**

Yep.

 **Okay. Hey, people. It's Ellie. You know, the best character in thislkdijgroighoufsh**

 _You can't just proclaim yourself the best character!_

 **No? Well, I just did!**

Petra's right, you can't do that.

 **You're biased because she's your favorite!**

Just stop. It's up to the reader who their favorite is.

 **Ugh, fine.**

 _ANYWAY. This is Petra talking. We all hope you liked this. And I hope a new font is discovered soon, because italian_

ITALICS.

 _Whatever it is, it makes me look prissy.  
_

It was either that or strikethrough, okay _?_  


 _Strikethrough seems preferable right about now._

 **You can both stop now. I think you're annoying the readers.  
**

Yeah, sorry, guys. Stay tuned for more. Hope you enjoyed. I'll be doing review replies, so be sure to leave one. Bye!  


...

 **...**

 _..._

Are you going to say bye, or...?  


 _Oh. Yeah. Bye.  
_

 **Goodbye and good riddance.**

Let's just pretend that never happened. Bye!  



	2. Getting Scammed

It is 9:00 at night and I am sitting at my computer, jamming out to Undertale: The Musical on YT and typing away. What am I even doing with my life?

 **Nothing good, that's what.**

Oh yeah, and these two are here.  


 _You say that as if you're not the one who chose to have us do the note with you.  
_

It's not my fault people like you!

 **Technically, it is. If you really wanted people to dislike us, you could write us as bitches.**

Ellie, I write you as a bitch. They like you anyway.  


...

 _..._

 **...**

Petra is trying really hard not to laugh right now. She's failing.  


 _I'm sorry, but that's fucking hilarious!  
_

Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just start. Everything belongs to Telltale Game except Ellie.  


* * *

"Alright, first off, why does it burn so much?" Jesse sputtered, brushing her dripping black hair out of her eyes. "Second, what the hell was that? You could've gotten me killed just then!" It was obvious to Petra that she was pissed. Of course, the Jesse version of pissed was different from the typical version of pissed.

"First, it burns because you landed on the water and not in it." Petra scoffed. "Second: How? You can swim. At least, I would imagine you can." Petra didn't have much faith in Jesse, but she hoped the girl could at least swim. She was seventeen, for Notch's sake! Besides, Jesse didn't seem to be having any problem staying afloat at the moment.

"Well, what if I hit the water too hard and died?" Jesse pointed out. Too bad her point wasn't valid.

"I…don't think that's possible. Water breaks your fall, no matter what height you fall from or how hard you fall." Petra reminded her.

"Oh, yeah, you're right." Jesse remembered. "Well, what if the river was frozen?"

If Petra hadn't needed all four of her limbs to tread water, she would've facepalmed. "It's July." She deadpanned. "It felt like a hundred fucking degrees earlier-there's no way in hell that it would go from being that to it being cold enough for the river to freeze in less than a day. You weren't going to die. I'm sorry we scared you, but those mobs would've fucking killed us all if we hadn't jumped."

"Can you at least give me some warning next time?" Jesse asked.

"No, we can't."

Jesse had nothing to say to that. "Alright, you two, stop it." Ellie said, looking a little annoyed with their conversation. "We should get moving, anyway. Jesse, try to land in the water and not on top of it next time."

After some swimming, the three girls came to land. The worst part of swimming is always getting out and being all wet, and it didn't help that they were in their regular clothes. They wrung out their dripping wet hair and headed in the direction of Endercon. "Hey, guys?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah?" Petra replied.

"So, this is all hypothetical, but-"

"No, it's not." Ellie interrupted. "I don't know what you're about to ask, but it's not hypothetical. It never is."

"Oh my fucking Notch." Jesse muttered. "Okay, it's not hypothetical. Aiden sabotaged our build during the competition, and I was wondering if I should turn him in. Maybe he and the Ocelots will be disqualified."

Petra thought for a moment before she answered, "Well, in a perfect world, that would get the Ocelots disqualified. But this isn't a perfect world, and a lot of people like the Ocelots." It was sad, but true. "So no, they won't be disqualified. With no proof backing either of you up, people will default to believing Aiden, and you'd just wind up looking like a sore loser. Let's face it: Chances are, someone saw Aiden sabotaging your build but they didn't give a shit. People like the Ocelots, and they don't like you and your friends. I'm sorry, but it's true."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Jesse sighed. "And don't worry. I'm not _that_ stupid-I know who likes and doesn't like me."

The rest of their walk was pretty much silent. By the time the three of them made to to Endercon, they were dry, and night had completely set in. "Hey, could you guys let me know if you see Reuben anywhere? I told him to run when we were attacked. It was for his own good, but now I don't know where he is."

"Of course." Ellie said, and Petra nodded.

Axel and Olivia were waiting by the entrance to Endercon. "Jesse." Axel said, not acknowledging Petra or Ellie's existence.

"And…Petra? And Ellie?" Olivia looked confused.

"Hey, you two both know Petra and Ellie…" Jesse paused as she tried to figure out what to say. "...my new super-close friends. We're all super-close now."

Petra and Ellie simultaneously facepalmed. "No, we aren't. Petra and I just saved her sorry ass in the forest."

"Yeah…" Jesse shrugged. "We ran into each other while I was looking for Reuben."

"Couldn't find him either, huh?" Axel said. Petra raised an eyebrow. Had Jesse had both of them looking for Reuben with her?

"I'm sorry, Jesse. We looked everywhere!" Olivia apologized.

"I found him, but then we got attacked by mobs and I told him to run for his own safety." Jesse sighed. "He'll show up soon, I'm sure."

"I gotta admit, I'm pretty bummed that they won…again." Axel said, gesturing to the beacon.

"Come on, guys, no need to be so damn upset. We'll get them next year!" Jesse encouraged her friends.

"I don't know, Jesse." Olivia responded.

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is sad." It seemed to Petra like Axel was referencing something, but what did she know about references and whether or not someone was making one?

"Hey, if at first you don't succeed, then, uh, succeed later than originally planned." It was a wonder to Petra that anyone was willing to even look at her.

"That's not the saying." Ellie deadpanned.

Petra sighed. "Yeah, I know. No need to highlight my moments of stupidity. Anyways, Jesse, Ellie, I think we should go see about that thing." The thing. Petra mentally facepalmed at herself and her spectacular failure at being subtle.

"Oh, right. The 'thing'." Well, at least she wasn't as obvious as Jesse. Ellie drew a finger across her throat. Petra made a mental note to stop Ellie from murdering Jesse later.

"Subtle." Olivia said, the sarcasm blatantly obvious.

"Yeah?" Jesse didn't pick up on it, though.

"As a punch to the face. Axel and I were going to head into Endercon anyway. See you in there?"

"I heard someone saying there's free cake by the map booth." Axel said before leaving with Olivia.

"Cake? I want cake. Can we get cake after this?" Jesse asked once they were gone.

Petra rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "Once this deal is made, you're free to do whatever the hell you want."

"Are we going or not? That skull isn't trading itself." Ellie said impatiently.

"Patience, Ellie. It's a virtue. But yeah, we should go. We're supposed to meet over there, in the alley." Petra gestured to said alley.

"Dark. Dark. Verrrrry dark in here." Jesse said once they were in the alley.

"Huh. That's weird." I muttered.

"What? Am I supposed to like the dark?"

"No, not that. We were told to meet in the dark, creepy alley close to the gates, but he's not here. Think maybe he's late?"

"That's possible." Ellie said at the exact time that Jesse asked, "Are you sure _this_ is the dark, creepy alley he meant?"

"Well, we _were_. It's possible that we heard him wrong." Petra said, more to herself than to Jesse. "Then again, we've been doing this for years and neither of us have ever gotten a meet up spot wrong before. Of course, there's a first time for everything…okay. New plan. You and Ellie stay here in case this _is_ the spot he meant. I'll look around for darker, creepier allies."

"Wait! You can't just leave me here!" Jesse exclaimed before Petra could leave.

"First off, you survived in the forest, so I would hope that you can survive in a dark alley. Second, Ellie's going to be here too. She can save your ass if necessary. It'll be fine." Petra assured her.

"Okay. But something about this feels off to me."

"Let me tell you something, Jesse: A lot of our deals feel off." Ellie broke in. "They always go perfectly fine. What makes this one any different?"

"Fine." Jesse grumbled.

"I'll be back before you two know it." Petra walked off, only realizing when it was too late that she still had the skull. Whatever.

Once Petra was out of the alley, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She wasn't claustrophobic, but she supposed it was impossible to experience what she had in her life without having at least a dislike of small, dark spaces. Well, Ellie wasn't afraid of them, but she was _Ellie_. Stuff like that didn't apply to her. It never had.

A bit of searching later, Petra had found absolutely no allies that were dark or creepy enough to be the one Ivor had talked about. When she went back to the alley, Ivor was there. Of course. "Ivor!"

"Ah, here she is. I assume you have the skull."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Should've left it with them. In any case, I've got it."

" _If_ you have what you promised _us._ " Ellie and Petra exchanged glances. Petra was having serious regrets-maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.

"Neither of you said anything about _her_ ," Ivor gestured to Jesse, "when we first met. And I don't like surprises. Between this and the fact that one of you is only _seventeen_..." He glanced at Petra, who tried not to show how pissed she was, "Well, if these are the sorts of people you associate with, perhaps we should just call the whole thing off."

A long stream of swear words ran through Petra's mind. Ellie fired back, "Yeah? And where are you going to find another dealer here at Endercon who's willing to get you a wither skull by the end of the night? Nowhere, that's where. Also, just for the record, Petra might only be seventeen, but she's the best fighter I've ever seen."

"I suppose you're right." Ivor scowled. "I'm sure I've seen better fighters, though."

"That's not the point." Petra said. "Besides, my friend's fine. Right, Jesse? There's no problem here." Petra glared at her, as if to say, _You had better fucking be cool._

"Maybe we should rethink this whole thing. This guy gives me a really bad feeling." Jesse whispered.

Clenching her teeth, Petra hissed, "You think he gives you a bad feeling? If you ruin this for me and Ellie, we'll give you a bad feeling that makes the bad feeling Ivor gives you seem like the feeling you probably get on your birthday."

Jesse flinched. Turning to Ivor, she said, "Yeah, I'm cool."

"Proceed, then."

Petra took out the skull and handed it to Ivor. He examined it carefully from all angles, as if he was worried it might be fake. "I'll take that diamond now." Petra said.

"Take it. You've earned it." Ivor gestured to a chest near them. Jesse, Ellie and Petra looked at each other, shrugged, and opened the chest.

"Um, this isn't a diamond!" Jesse exclaimed.

"No shit! It's lapis!" Petra swore. They turned to where Ivor had been just a moment ago, and naturally, the motherfucker wasn't there anymore.

"Why the hell did you two trust that guy?"

"It doesn't matter now." Ellie answered. "We need to go after him."

The three girls ran off. "We are either getting that diamond, or we're getting the fucking skull back!" Petra said angrily.

"Or, you're going to make him pay, right? Right?" Petra had to wonder sometimes what it was that was wrong with Jesse.

Neither she nor Ellie responded. Once we left the alley and found ourselves back at Endercon, there was an unfortunate lack of Ivor. "We lost him!" Jesse stated the obvious yet again.

"Well, then we'll just have to find him again. Let's split up." Petra instructed. And they did. The searching all blended together, but there was a distinct lack of Ivor. Somehow, they all wound up as a group again with Olivia and Axel.

"You see him anywhere?" Petra asked, hurrying up to the group.

Jesse shook her head, saying, "No. I thought I saw him earlier, but it was just a false ala-wait! Holy crap, there he is!" The group turned to where Jesse was pointing and saw Ivor heading into the convention hall, where Gabriel would be doing his presentation later. Petra rolled her eyes. How very fucking convenient. "Looks like he's heading towards the Hall."

"We're going to have to get past that usher to follow him." Petra didn't know why she felt the need to say that, considering it was obvious, but she said it anyway.

"Let's go." They all headed up to the usher. "So, yeah, hey." Jesse made small talk.

Petra's attitude, on the other hand, was more of the 'Fuck it' variety. "What would it take to get us inside tonight?" The usher looked like the sort of guy who would let them all in for a date with one of them.

Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving. "Uh…tickets." He started laughing hysterically. "That was a good one." Petra rolled her eyes. No, it hadn't been. "You should laugh." Nope.

"Look, this is really important." Jesse said.

"Yeah, and so's my job." The usher responded, right before a chicken flew in front of him. "Chickeeeeeen! Chicken! Chicken! Chicken!" It flew away. "It's gone. You're totally fine. You're a totally cool dude."

They went back to their own little group. "We have to do something." Petra said in a low voice.

"Like what? The show has been sold out for ages." Olivia pointed out.

"I could bust right through." Axel suggested. "I just need a little wind-up room." Petra couldn't tell if he was serious or not. She seriously hoped he wasn't.

Ellie shook her head, putting an end to that idea, if it had ever really been an idea. "We'd get banned from Endercon for fucking life."

"We need a distraction." Jesse said, seeming to think aloud.

"A lot of chickens running around might be a distraction." Petra suggested. They looked over at the usher, who was currently in an 'argument' with a chicken. "Shoo! Shoo! Get out of here!" Out of all the things to be afraid of, this guy was scared of chickens. Fucking _chickens._ Petra didn't know whether to laugh or send him to a mental hospital.

"The usher is afraid of chickens." Jesse whispered. That seemed pretty obvious to Petra, but she decided not to say anything. They had bigger things to worry about. "What would you say if I told you I want to break _this_ guy's chicken machine," She gestured to the convenient chicken machine next to them, "to create the mother of all distractions?"

"I'd say you're a fucking genius." Ellie responded.

"But you'd have to break that pane of glass to reach it. How are you going to do that?" Olivia asked.

"Let's figure it out." Jesse answered.

* * *

Okay, um, the final word count is 2566. Also, this chapter was finished on 12/4/16.

 _I think she's paying more attention to her music than she is to the computer.  
_

I'm sorry! It's really good music! Shoutout to Man on the Internet!  


 **You barely have any readers; what's the point in doing a shoutout?  
**

I didn't ask you!  


 _You wrote that line yourself, so you clearly must have wanted to hear it at least a little!  
_

I didn't ask you either!

 _Ugh, whatever. Anyway..._

 **We now give you...**

From the author herself...

 ** _Review replies!_**

Rebekahtpe: I've received an RQLC! I feel loved now...=)  


Crackin' like an egg? What does that even mean?

I'd like to see in the dark. Then I could read late at night without anyone EVER knowing! Mwahaha...

Ariza Luca: Glad to see you like my stuff so much =)

I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Bye!


	3. That One Part Where Things Go To Hell

Hey there, peeps!

 _Hi.  
_

 **Hello.**

So, just a quick note before the chapter: Entire sentences in italics are inner thoughts.  


 _To clarify, italics are like my text during the note.  
_

Also, to any Jesse fans, I'm sorry to say that Ellie is a bitch to her this chapter.  


 **Aren't I always?  
**

Fair point. That being said, on to the chapter!

* * *

After searching around for a little while, Jesse came back to the rest of them. For some reason, they weren't doing much. Petra supposed it was because there wasn't really anything they _could_ do. "Hey, so I think we can use a slime block to break the glass." Petra raised an eyebrow. That was actually a pretty good idea. "I imagine you guys have noticed that." Jesse gestured to a nearby slime booth. "They're low on slime balls, so they're only giving out two slime per customer. If you all go up there, we'll have enough for a block."

So the four of them headed up to the booth. "A round of slime balls for everyone, please." Axel requested.

The woman working the booth, who looked to Petra like a female Ivor, reached down to where the slime balls were most likely kept. "Oh, shit." She muttered. Looking back at the four young adults, she said, "Listen, I've only got enough slime balls for three of you at the moment. I'll have more in 20 or so minutes if you want to wait, but for the time being, this is all I have." The woman handed the group six slime balls and put a sign on her booth that said, ' **OUT OF STOCK"**.

"That was a bust." Petra muttered as they headed back to Jesse.

"Not a _total_ bust." Olivia said. "I mean, we have eight slime balls now as opposed to two."

"Eight, two, what's it even mattter?" Petra scoffed, teeth clenched. "It doesn't matter. We don't have enough to make the slime block."

"But we're closer to making it." Ellie pointed out.

"What's it fucking matter if we're close?" Petra snapped. "Close isn't a success. Eight slime balls might be close to nine, but they don't make a block."

"Guys, we don't have time for your little sibling rivalry." Axel said.

"Fine." Petra sighed. Nobody spoke again until they got back to Jesse.

"They're all out. We've got eight." Petra said, scowling.

"Okay." Jesse seemed a little discouraged, but she seemed to still be determined. Petra couldn't help but wonder: Why could _nothing_ upset her, ever? "I'll look around. There has to be something we can get another slime ball from." Her eternal optimism just annoyed the shit out of Petra.

Jesse looked around for a while before the others spotted her nearby, talking to Lukas. After a few exchanged glances, they headed over to them, just in time to hear Lukas say, "Whatever you guys are doing, count me in." He put a slime ball in Jesse's hand.

"Thanks, Lukas." Petra said, whispering to Jesse, "Told you he wasn't so bad."

Jesse put down a crafting table and began crafting a slime block. Lukas and Axel had some conversation about building or something along those lines. Petra tuned out until Jesse finished. "Ta-da! One slime block." _Congratulations, you know how to put nine slime on a crafting table,_ Petra thought sarcastically. "Gross." _Damn right._

"I'll take that." Olivia said, picking up the slime block. "Right there." She put it down in a spot near the chicken machine.

Axel gave Jesse a boost onto the booth next to them, and she jumped. Unfortunately, it didn't quite go as planned. She landed on the slime block badly and wound up breaking the glass with her head. Well, chickens went everywhere, so mission accomplished, Petra supposed.

The usher freaked out and ran. "Now's our chance!" Petra whisper-yelled. They ran into the hall. The usher tried to stop them, but the chickens stopped him. Who knew chickens could be so vicious?

By some miracle, the group made it into the hall. "Where'd he go?" Petra asked. She didn't know why she'd asked. It wasn't like anyone would know the fucking answer.

"There!" Jesse pointed to an ominous-looking door that was cracked open.

"Really?" Ellie scoffed. "The ominous door that's just a little bit open? Could you get _any_ more cliche than that?"

"Yeah, you're right, it's stupid." Petra was surprised that Jesse had given in so easily-that is, until she continued, "Now, Ellie, let's hear your brilliant idea, since mine is apparently so stupid." Damn. It was possible that she'd just gained some respect for Jesse. "Ellie, we're desperate here. A dumb idea is better than no idea."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Okay, point taken. Let's go to the cliche door."

"Thank you." Jesse said. The hurried over there, trying to keep a low profile and managing to not get caught.

"Alright, so what's the plan for once we catch him?" Lukas stopped them once they were in front of the door. "There are a million ways we could play this, but this isn't my fight, so I'll let you decide."

"Whatever we have to." Jesse said.

"Damn. You're way more intense than I expected, Jesse." Lukas commented. Petra pushed aside the thought worming its way into her head. No way would that happen.

But what if it did?

No. It wouldn't. It couldn't. Jesse _knew_ Petra liked him, so even if she did have a thing for him, she wasn't that kind of person. Petra was far from Jesse's biggest fan, but she wouldn't deny that Jesse was a genuinely good person.

Petra snapped herself out of her thoughts. They snuck through the door, headed down some stairs, and peeked around a corner. Bookshelves. Cobwebs. And potions. Petra found it pretty weird, but maybe she was the weird one and this was normal. Who knew?

"See anything?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, plenty of things. None of them are Ivor, though." Petra said dryly. "I'm guessing he went out another way."

The group got out from behind the corner and began looking around. "What is all this?" Olivia asked rhetorically.

"Looks like it used to be the basement. Weird place to have a hideout." Jesse said.

"Incredibly cliche, too." Ellie pointed out. Petra could tell that her sister couldn't resist.

"Stop." Jesse scoffed. Petra was surprised. Jesse had always been pretty tolerant of teasing and the like-if she was getting fed up, Ellie had clearly gone too far.

"Anyways, I'll bet you anything we'll find the wither skull here." Petra changed the subject.

"And if we find anything else cool to steal along the way, so be it, right?" Axel asked. He was obviously hoping someone would say yes. Well, no such luck.

"Fuck that." Petra snapped. "We are _not_ here to do that. We're here to get the skull."

"Well, to be fair, I _did_ say we should do whatever we have to." Jesse mused. Petra prayed to Notch that Jesse wasn't agreeing with Axel-and she'd never even been religious!

"And this guy clearly isn't around, so what we have to do is steal, right?" Axel pointed out.

"We have to steal the wither skull." Jesse replied. "Nothing else." Petra felt relief come over her.

Axel pouted. "You guys never let me have any fun."

"We let you hang out with us. Besides, the faster we find what we're looking for, the faster we can get the hell out of here."

They started searching the hideout. Petra was rooting through a chest when she found a shiny gold sword. Huh. At that exact moment, Jesse walked up to her. "Oh, hello." Petra muttered, taking out the sword and doing a few test swings.

Jesse flinched. "Holy fuck, do you ever think before swinging a sharp sword? You could've taken my head off."

"But I didn't. Anyways, it's too heavy. And too soft."

"But it's super flashy." Jesse pointed out. "At least I would've had a pretty death if you'd killed me with that."

"Oh, stop." Petra rolled her eyes. "You're still alive. By the way, do you still have that one stone sword?"

"Nah." Jesse shook her head sadly. "I had to give it to some asshole butcher before to save Reuben's life."

"Huh. Well, I guess it was for a good cause. Here. Take this." Petra handed her the gold sword.

"I'm going to fight with the sword that almost ended my life. Thanks...I guess?"

"Why are you so hung up on that?"

"I don't know. I'm weird like that."

"Anyways, don't lose that one."

"I won't."

Jesse headed off with her new almost-fatal sword, and Petra continued her task of searching through the chest for anything that remotely resembled a wither skull. The task was stopped, though, when there was a weird sound. Petra looked up from the chest, which had an aggravating lack of skulls, to see some bookshelves moving down to reveal the setup for a Wither, but not quite. There was an unfamiliar block in the middle.

Fuck.

Petra figured it out almost immediately. Ivor was building a Wither.

"What the hell _is_ all this stuff?" Jesse asked.

"Well, the brown stuff is soul sand." Petra said. "It's everywhere in the Nether."

"Yeah, well, what about that weird block in the middle? Is that everywhere in the Nether?"

"Definitely not."

"I've never seen one of those before." Olivia seemed to think moving towards the block and reaching out to touch it was a good idea. Why she thought this, Petra would never know. "Maybe if I just take a closer look…"

"Don't touch that, Olivia!" Jesse exclaimed. Her words seemed to cause Olivia to snap out of whatever trance the block had put her in.

"I was just curious." She protested.

"That doesn't matter if curiousity gets you killed!" Ellie snapped.

Jesse sighed and opened the chest in front of the statue. "Okay, so I have good news and I have really, really bad news. I found the skull, but I found multiple other ones." They moved forward to look in the chest and saw three wither skulls.

It registered in everyone's mind at the same time. "He's building a Wither." Petra muttered. "He's legitimately building a fucking Wither."

"He was in a hurry to get the skull, wasn't he?" Jesse pointed out. "That means he must have needed it by tonight. Which just _happens_ to be the night of Endercon."

"And his hideout is here, so…" Lukas stopped, probably thinking about it.

Nobody dared to say it, but all six of them were thinking the same thing. The Wither was going to get built that night at Endercon. They were all going to die, along with countless innocent lives.

Jesse broke the horrible silence. "We came here to find the skull. Well, we found it. Along with multiple others."

"Maybe we should just grab it and get out of here-while we still can." The moment the words came out of Petra's mouth, there was the dreaded sound of the door opening and closing.

"Uh, guys?" Lukas said.

"Scatter!" Petra hissed.

They all hid in different spots. Petra pressed herself against a bookshelf and tried not to move, blink, or breathe. None of them succeeded except the first one, since she quickly realized that not blinking meant hell for her eyes and that her body _really_ needed oxygen, creepy dude with villainous plans be damned.

"Don't you recognize me?" A voice that Petra could tell was Ivor's exclaimed. _Shit, did he see us?_ That was when he continued, "Or, wait. Surprised to see me? No, but how about…thought you were rid of me, didn't you?" Petra would have laughed if not for the situation. Ivor was seriously practicing his villain intro.

There was a _clink_ noise. Petra inhaled sharply.

"What was that? Who's there?" Ivor snapped to attention.

But nobody spoke.

That is, until Jesse did. "Hey, you!"

"What are you doing here?" Ivor demanded. "What did you see?"

That was apparently the cue for the rest of them to come out of their hiding spots. "Leave her the hell alone!" Petra snapped.

"Yeah! Back off, pal." Axel looked a little like he wanted to try and murder Ivor. He didn't, though.

"You three?" Ivor looked from Petra, to Ellie, to Jesse. "Did you follow me here?"

"As a matter of fact, yes! I bet you thought you could just screw us over and get away with it, didn't you?"

"We're here to prove you wrong." Jesse actually sounded threatening for once in her life.

"What are you going to do about it?" If his tone of voice was any indicator, Ivor couldn't have given less of a shit about them being there. "I have what I want, and you have _exactly_ what you earned."

"We know what you're doing down here." Jesse snapped, taking a step towards Ivor. "Soul sand plus three wither skulls? You're building a fucking Wither!"

"Huh." Ivor still didn't seem to give a shit. "Smarter than you look." _Holy fuck, he did not just say that._

"Hey. _Nobody_ talks to my friends like that. So shut your mouth, or else." Huh. Petra was getting the feeling that that was why Jesse hung out with Axel.

"Enough!" Ivor exclaimed. "You've wasted too much of my time already." He disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" Petra asked, like anyone would know.

That was when they saw him. He was standing over four iron blocks in a T formation, and he had a pumpkin. _Shit._ "If you won't leave of your own volition, I'll happily remove you myself!" Then he placed the pumpkin and everything went to shit.

The golem attacked them, and they ran like hell. When they somehow managed to make it out of the basement, there were two people who seemed to be announcing Gabriel's entrance. Petra tuned them out because fuck them.

"Everyone okay?" Jesse asked, looking around at the others quickly. Her expression turned scared at the exact moment Olivia spoke.

"Uh, guys?" She asked them. "Where's Lukas?" Fuck.

"I could've sworn he was right behind me." Jesse insisted.

"Well, if he's not here, the only place he could be is-" Axel was cut off by Jesse.

"He's still down there!" Jesse informed them, because none of them had figured that out.

"Ivor's got an iron golem and all the ingredients to build a Wither down there. If he were to unleash it in this crowd of people…we have to act fast." Petra didn't want to leave Lukas behind, but they were all going to die if Ivor spawned the Wither here. She was just being logical…right?

"It just so happens that the greatest warrior of all time is in the building." Olivia pointed out. "We can ask Gabriel for help!"

"You guys warn Gabriel." Jesse instructed. "I'm going after Lukas."

Before anyone could object, she was gone. Once they were at the front of the crowd, Axel told them, "Let me handle this."

"I can't watch." Petra said to Ellie, looking away from Axel, who was about to make a fool of himself. She nodded.

"This is going to be painful as fuck."

The sisters tuned out what happened next. Somewhere along the way, Jesse and Lukas showed up again. Petra pointed to Axel and grimaced, shaking her head. "He's blowing it." She whispered.

That was when a familiar voice reached all of their ears. " _I_ have a question for you."

"I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to wait your turn." Petra flinched. She could tell that Gabriel had no idea what was coming to him.

"Just tell me first: do you really believe _anyone_ can be great?" Ivor demanded. In Petra's opinion, a better question was how the hell he'd gotten out of the basement without anyone seeing. Was there another way out? They hadn't seen one...

"With enough hard work, yes." Gabriel nodded.

"Was _that_ where I went wrong? I simply didn't _work_ hard enough?"

"Ivor?" Petra gasped. They _knew_ each other? "Is that really you? How _dare_ you interrupt like this?"

"That's the guy who attacked us in the basement!" Jesse exclaimed.

Gabriel sighed. "I wish I could say I was surprised."

"If it's surprises you want, you're in for a treat." Ivor spoke in a tone like he knew something the rest of them didn't. Which he did, to be fair. He knew why he was going to spawn a Wither with some weird block inside. "Why don't you tell them the real story, _Gabriel?_ " _What real story? What the fuck is Ivor talking about?_ He was walking onstage. That was _not_ a good sign.

"I see time has made you bitter." Gabriel said calmly. Petra wasn't sure how he was calm.

"And it's made you an even _bigger_ fool."

"Now, these people were promised greatness, and I'm ready to deliver." Ivor headed towards the back of the stage.

"Somebody stop him!" Jesse exclaimed. She recieved no response.

"Nothing built can last forever, Gabriel." Ivor pulled a lever, and the formation from before rose up onstange. The only difference was that now there were two wither skulls on it.

"Ivor, no!" Ivor, yes, apparently. Ivor ignored Gabriel's exclamation completely and placed the third and final wither skull on the formation, and that was it. The Wither was spawned. Instantly, everything went to hell. It was just a normal Wither if not for one key difference: Inside its ribcage was the unrecognizable block.

Screaming. Crying. Running. The Wither began firing skulls everywhere and absorbing blocks, and it was possible that they'd almost died a few times. It was hell, and nobody could make head or tail of the situation.

"Everyone stay calm!" _Really, Gabriel? There's a Super Wither on the loose and you tell us to stay calm?_ "This foul beast is no match for me!" Gabriel drew his sword and lunged for the Wither, but his sword bounced right off the block. "What have you done?"

"Gabriel!" Jesse yelled.

"No, stay away!" Gabriel instructed. "It's after me, not you." The Wither dove at them-well, mostly Gabriel-and they made desperate attempts to dodge it.

"Look at him! The mighty Gabriel." Ivor said mockingly. "Looks like true greatness is out of his reach. He may not be able to defeat this creature, but I can! Creature, retreat!" Nothing happened. "Ahem. Creature, retreat." Nope.

"He's lost control of it!" Jesse exclaimed. That was possible, but Petra had to wonder if he'd ever had control of it.

"Uh, no need to be alarmed, my friends." Ivor sounded nervous. "I have an elixir that will destroy this creature." Ivor took out an ordinary-looking potion.

"The potion-is that…?" Jesse didn't finish her sentence.

"Uh oh." _Fuck. Did Axel steal something?_

Ivor threw the potion at the Wither, but all that happened was that it seemed to get angrier, if that was even possible at this point. "What? Impossible. It should have worked! I took such care!"

"The potion-Axel! You've got to throw the real potion!" Olivia instructed. He _had_ stolen something!

"But…finders, keepers!" Axel protested. Petra clenched her teeth in frustration.

"You thieves! You're ruining everything!" _Yeah, like you didn't, Ivor._

"Axel, come on!"

Axel took out a fancy-looking potion and looked at it sadly. Jesse snatched it and threw it at the Wither. Still, nothing happened.

"It's protecting itself!" Ivor yelled. "Without the Command Block exposed, the potion is useless!" Sure enough, the strange block had been covered by the Wither. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" _No? Maybe you should've taken precautions before you spawned a fucking Wither at Endercon!_

That was when Ivor turned around and ran. "Ivor! You coward, come back here!" Gabriel called, but to no avail. Out of nowhere, a purple beam appeared and began sucking Gabriel up. Jesse and Olivia pulled him back down, and a quick look told Petra that the beam was coming from the Wither's eye. This was bad. "Thank you. Ivor was right about one thing-I can't defeat that thing. Not on my own. Everyone's running away, except for you. Will you help me? I must get to the temple, but what happens next, I can't do alone."

"Of course!" Jesse exclaimed.

Gabriel nodded. "Follow me!" And follow him they did.

Everyone, and I mean _everyone_ , ran like hell. The Wither was on the heels of everyone at Endercon the whole time, and Petra was unfortunate enough to witness quite a few deaths. _That_ would probably result in PTSD if she survived this. Eventually, they all met up again under a booth, but it lasted about half a second before the Wither showed up with its beams. One of them sucked up the Endercon booth, some random chunks of sidewalk…and Petra. Jesse was the only one within hearing distance, so Petra screamed at the top of her lungs, "Jesse, help me!" Jesse turned around and grabbed her arm, using her other hand to grab a fencepost.

"I can't hold on!" The fencepost broke, and both girls screamed. They both would've died right there if Gabriel hadn't saved them. He grabbed Jesse's leg and kept them grounded until the beam moved on. Holy fuck.

Somehow, everyone else wound up there. "Do we still have everyone?" Jesse asked, doing a quick head count. Petra guessed they had everyone, because she didn't say anything else.

"We must set out for my fortress-we'll be better protected there." They all followed Gabriel.

Petra considered thanking Jesse, but decided against it. Nobody spoke again until Petra warned her, "Incoming!" They dodged a skull headed straight for them.

As they ran out of Endercon, the gate closed behind them. Why was the gate closing behind them? The Wither could fly right over it!

"Stay together, everyone!" Gabriel warned. "We'll be safe as soon as we get to my temple!" _Y_ _es, I'm sure we'll be safe once we get to your temple-the only problem is getting there._

 _Run. Just run and keep running. Don't think about how screwed you are and what a horrible life you led and how you wish you'd at least told Lukas how you felt about him, even though he probably didn't feel the same way. Just dodge everything dangerous and keep running._

"The temple is just up ahead! Follow me!" Gabriel yelled after what felt to Petra like forever but really wasn't.

By some miracle, they all made it to the temple. Aside from all of them having a couple bruises and scratches, they were miraculously unharmed. "The inner chamber is built entirely of obsidian. We should be untouchable in there." Gabriel pulled a lever, and some blocks moved aside to reveal what was probably the inner chamber. They all ran in, and Gabriel began fighting off tentacles. "Hurry! If you can get through the portal, you'll be safe!"

"Uh, something's not right here." Axel made a brilliant observation.

"It's not lit! We need something to light it!" Olivia exclaimed.

Jesse lit the portal, and Axel, Olivia, and Reuben made it through. Ellie and Petra found themselves fighting off tentacles, while Jesse was helping Gabriel. Lukas appeared to have frozen up. _Fan-fucking-tastic_. Petra didn't blame him, but it was still fan-fucking-tastic.

Gabriel appeared to be giving Jesse an amulet and saying something about north. Right after that was done, Petra motioned for Jesse and Lukas to come over to them. "You three need to go through the portal. I'll stay here and do whatever I can." Petra didn't know why she was doing this, but she knew she had to.

"No." Ellie said immediately.

"Yes."

"I _will not_ let you go and risk your life against some crazy Wither monster that you most definitely cannot kill!"

"I can't kill it, but maybe I can hurt it!"

"Stop it!" Jesse exclaimed. Both girls turned to her. "Look, either everyone goes through the portal or nobody does."

That was when they heard Gabriel's yell, and the four of them turned to see him getting sucked up by one of the beams. All of them minus Lukas ran for him, but before they could get to him, Petra found herself in a beam. _Well, goodbye, world._ She kind of wished she'd gotten to live longer, but she supposed 17 years-almost 18-wasn't too bad.

Jesse ran for her, and Ellie ran for Gabriel. Before she could get to him, though, a tentacle hit her and knocked her to the ground. _She's unconscious,_ Petra told herself. _She's just unconscious. She's alive, just unconscious. Right?_

Just before Jesse pulled Petra out of the beam, she felt a searing pain in her left arm. She tried not to think anything of it. There were bigger things to worry about than her possibly injured arm. She wasn't even a lefty.

"Thanks, Jesse. Gabriel's still up there, though!"

"Jesse!" Gabriel yelled. "Go!" _Gee, thanks for thinking about all of us._

"No!" They both ran for him, but before they could do anything, a tentacle knocked Jesse, Lukas, and Ellie's (hopefully) unconscious body into the portal. By the time all that had gone down, Gabriel was too high, and all Petra could do was watch helplessly as he got sucked into the Wither.

She was going to have horrible PTSD after all this was over-that is, if she even survived.

* * *

Final word count: 4,340

Petra and Ellie aren't here because there's something I want to talk about seriously after the reviews.

Rebekahtpe: Meh, it's not that bad. And yes, she does. Human Reuben is wrong. And to answer your question, peanut butter.

Now, I have a bit of a confession.

This entire story? The last version of which got over a thousand views?

Hell, everything written under this account name?

There's something you should know.

It's all been written by an eleven-year-old.

That's right. I'm eleven.

I know, I know. You're probably staring at your computer and going, "But you write about such mature topics!"

Let's just say I know more than someone my age should.

Please don't hate me. I'm still Becky, the girl who curses all the time, ships Luktra, and has the bitchiest OC on here.

You just know my age now.

Don't treat me any differently. I haven't changed.

For what it's worth, I'm almost twelve.

See you guys in the next chapter. Once again, please don't hate me for this.


	4. Becky Passed Out From Fangirlism, Sorry

Hey, peeps! I'm short on time so it's just me doing the note. I worked pretty hard on this one, and I hope you enjoy!

Warnings:

1\. If you ship Luktra, this chapter could cause intense fangirling/fanboying/fanpersoning.

2\. Ellie has a figurative explosion in this chapter.

Oh, and bold text outside of notes is Ellie's thoughts.

All that being said, on to the chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

Petra ran.

She ran without stopping or looking back once.

Gabriel had said something about north. It was a long shot, but she was desperate as fuck. And _that_ was how she found herself running north for my life.

For some reason, though, it didn't take very long for her body to decide it was tired. "The hell?" Petra muttered, slowing to a walk. She'd been doing deals since she had probably been too young to risk her life by fighting monsters all the time, and it had definitely left her had more stamina than _that_ , hadn't it? Scowling, the redheaded teen forced herself to keep going, although she slowed her pace slightly.

 _I'm just tired. I was running for a while before getting to the temple. That's the reason I'm tired out now. I'm fine._

Unfortunately, her left arm begged to differ.

It had ached dully since Jesse had pulled Petra out of the beam, but now that ache grew to an almost unbearable pain. It had hurt horribly right before she'd been pulled out…what if that wasn't just a coincidence? What if something was really wrong?

The pain was only growing, and a less reasonable and logical part of Petra-not that Petra was ever particularly reasonable or logical, but this part was even less so-felt like cutting off her arm just to end it, because that would legitimately be less painful. But since that wasn't an option, Petra knew she had to look at her arm, just in case something was wrong with it. Grimacing, she forced herself to roll up the long sleeve that covered most of her left arm. What she saw underneath scared the shit out of her.

Purple.

* * *

Ellie's eyes shot open. "Wh-what the hell?" She muttered.

Why was she moving? Why was everything so damn hot?

Sitting up, Ellie took in her surroundings. She was in a minecart. In front of her were Jesse, Lukas, Olivia, and Axel, each in separate minecarts. Looking around, she saw lava, fire, and Netherrack.

Oh, fuck, they were in the Nether.

Why were they in the Nether?

"Why are we in the Nether?"

Four heads turned to face her.

"Well, she's awake." Jesse said.

"You didn't answer my question." Ellie persisted.

"We're in the Nether because the Witherstorm knocked us in here." Lukas explained.

 **Witherstorm?** Ellie paused for a second before making the connection. That was probably what they were calling that...that _thing._

That was when she realized something.

"Where's Petra?"

Ellie noticed a few concerned glances between the other four before Lukas said, "I'm sorry."

The words took a moment to register in her mind. People only answered a question like that with, 'I'm sorry,' for one reason.

"No." She said. "No, she-she isn't. She can't be." There was a moment of silence. "...is she?"

"We don't know." Jesse answered. "The last time we saw her, she was alive. But she didn't get knocked into the portal, and we were going to go back, but then it broke, and...ugh, I haven't got a damn clue how to explain this."

"But she's probably dead." Ellie said it like a statement, rather than a question.

"Well, we can't be sure, but..." Olivia sighed. "I'm sorry, Ellie. She's probably dead."

Ellie was still and silent for a few moments before she exploded.

Not literally, obviously, but the words that came out of her mouth were so rapid and so loud that they could be considered an explosion of words.

" _Why?!_ " She screamed. "Why did this happen?"

"It was my fault." Lukas said. "I froze."

"You said you got knocked in. How would you not being frozen get Petra knocked in with you?" Ellie paused for a couple seconds before saying, "Actually, I really don't give a shit. Because you know what? It doesn't fucking matter to me whose fault it was. What _does_ matter is that you-you _fuckers_ are alive while the one reason I get out of bed in the morning is not!"

"I'm sor-" Ellie cut Jesse off.

"Don't bother. Sorry doesn't bring anyone back." Shutting her eyes, she shook her head, her dark auburn ponytail swinging. "Forget it. Let's not talk about it."

"But Ellie-" Olivia was cut off.

"No buts. She's gone."

None of them could tell whether Ellie was talking to herself or to them.

* * *

The inside of her elbow was entirely purple.

As if that wasn't scary enough, about half of her forearm had turned a purple-gray color that Petra could only describe as freakish. Upon tentatively running her finger along her arm, the skin felt rough, and inspecting it more closely caused Petra to realize that it was blistering, and the unaffected skin on her arm looked a little paler than the rest of her.

All Petra knew how to say was a quiet, "Fuck."

She had never paid much attention in school. She'd always known that the only way she could get to college and do much of anything with her life was if she got a full scholarship, and she'd never been the smartest kid, so that was out of the question. With the biggest reason for trying in school being virtually meaningless to her, Petra had never bothered doing more than the bare minimum.

But she'd paid the maximum attention when they'd learned about Wither Sickness. Everyone had. Stuff like that was interesting to seventh graders.

She remembered that the most obvious symptom was a mark on your body with a description horribly similar to her arm.

She remembered that it was fatal.

But she remembered that it was easily cured with a bucket of milk.

She had an empty bucket on her; she could just get some milk from a cow. Wither Sickness begone. Everything would be fine.

One bucket of milk later, nothing was fine. "Wait." She muttered. "Just wait." _There's no way it works immediately, right?_

What felt like an hour later, Petra had given up all hope.

She didn't want to even think what she knew in her heart was true-she felt like even letting the thought enter her head would make it true, and as long as she blocked it out, it wouldn't be real.

But that was bullshit. There was no getting around the fact that the milk wasn't working.

She was absolutely fucked. No getting around _that_ either.

If she ever found this temple, the others didn't need to know about this. It wasn't like they could do a damn thing, and what was the point of worrying them?

They would probably freak out when she dropped dead in front of them, of course, but it would be nothing compared to how they would freak out if they saw her arm.

 _Okay. Just stay calm. Keep going. Just because you're sick and will inevitably die in the near future doesn't mean you can't get to this temple thingy._

Things didn't improve in any way, shape, or form for Petra during the following hours. The pain in her arm only increased, and her head started hurting a little in addition to that.

But she kept going. She didn't have any choice. If she didn't keep going, then that would mean the others would never know what happened to her, and who would she be to do that to them?

As the teen walked, the thought of death crossed her mind a lot. It was terrifying.

She didn't want to die.

It was a stupid thought-most of her family was dead; she supposed it was her turn. Not only that, but it was a little late to be thinking it. The damage was done. Petra was withering away. It was too late to decide she didn't want to die. It was going to happen regardless, so there was no sense in freaking out over it.

After what felt like forever but was really only a couple days, she finally saw a building that looked like it could be a temple. "Hello?" She called.

"Who goes there?" A familiar voice yelled. _Okay, Lukas is here. What about everyone else?_

 _Eh, fuck everyone else._

 _But what about Ellie?_

"I go there!"

"Holy crap. Petra, is that you?"

"Nope, I just happen to have her personality, voice, and appearance. Yes, it's me, now let me the hell in!" Petra demanded.

Lukas held his hands up. "Okay, okay." He disappeared from the window, and shortly afterwards, the door was opened.

"We all thought you might be…well, you know."

"Me? Dead?" Petra said in mock offense. "I don't die. Dying sucks, so I don't do it." The words coming from her mouth were blatant lies, and she knew it. "Where are the others, anyway?" _They died. They died, and it's all your fault._

"Well, Gabriel gave Jesse this amulet that tracks the Order members. Jesse and Axel went to go find Magnus, and Olivia went to get Ellegaard. I have no idea how she intends to do it without the amulet, but she seemed pretty sure of herself."

"And Ellie would be where during all this?" _She isn't dead. She isn't dead. She isn't fucking dead!_ "She had _better_ not be dead."

"Holy shit." Ellie's voice said as she came down the stairs. "Petra! You-you're alive!"

The two girls hugged each other tightly. "Notch fucking dammit, I was so worried." Ellie muttered. She noticed that her sister was a little cold, but she ignored it at that moment.

"You think I wasn't?"

Ellie laughed, letting go. "This coming from the girl who we all thought we'd never see again?" There was a pause. "I'm so glad you're okay. But I think I'll leave you two alone."

"And _why_ are you doing this?" Lukas asked.

"No reason other than that I feel like it." Ellie disappeared.

Lukas turned to Petra. "Is there a method to her madness, or is she just full-on crazy?"

Petra shrugged. "Haven't got a damn clue. Hell, I'm not sure if even Ellie herself knows."

"Wow." Lukas said. He sat down against the wall and motioned for Petra to do the same. She sat down next to him. "So...what happened to you?" Lukas asked.

"It's a long story." Petra responded.

"We've got time.

"A long story I don't want to tell."

"Oh. Okay."

There was silence for a few minutes. "Weird to think that a couple days ago, things were normal." Lukas commented.

Petra nodded. "It honestly sucks."

"Yeah." Lukas turned his head, looking at his friend. "How are you doing?"

Petra was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer. She shrugged. "I don't even know. I...this shouldn't have happened."

"Definitely not. There should never be a deadly Witherstorm destroying the world."

"No, that's not what I mean. It's just..." Petra sighed, shaking her head. "Lukas, this is all happening for one reason and one reason only: because some of us fucked up. Ellie and I never should've made that deal. Axel should've left that potion alone. Ivor shouldn't have spawned a mega Wither at Endercon, but if he absolutely had to for some reason, he should've been more careful. But you know what the worst part is?"

"What?"

"Nobody meant for it to turn out like this." She answered. "Ellie and I didn't mean to screw the world over-we were just trying to make money. Axel didn't mean to steal the only way of killing a giant Wither monster. He was just...um...I haven't got a damn clue what he was trying to accomplish, but I doubt he wanted the world to die. And I can't make head or tail of Ivor's motives, but as much as I hate him, I have a hard time believing that _anyone_ would willingly destroy the world. Nobody who was responsible for this meant for this to happen. It's just a total accident. But..." There were a few moments of silence before Petra continued, "With this whole fucking world being destroyed at the speed of notchdamn _light_ , our intentions don't matter-hell, I don't know if they ever did at all."

Nobody spoke for a few minutes.

"Damn. That's deep." Lukas finally commented.

"Enjoy it while you can-we both know I don't say many things that have any sort of real meaning." Petra laughed. It was a short little laugh, one without any real humor. It was hard to muster up any sort of cheer in this situation, let alone laugh a real laugh.

Petra turned her head towards Lukas. He was facing her just like she was towards him; it was almost as if fate had planned it.

The moment was perfect, and Petra couldn't help herself. So she barely hesitated before pulling Lukas towards her and kissing him.

On the lips.

For multiple seconds.

Every sensible part of the teen's brain screamed at her to stop, but she didn't listen. She was going to die; best she did what she'd wanted to do for years before that happened, right?

After a couple seconds, he started kissing her back.

And in those moments, she forgot.

She forgot that she was the antisocial redheaded girl who sat in the back of class, cursed all the time, and did deals for money.

She forgot that she was going to die.

She forgot that the two of them could never be together.

And forgetting those things made those moments the best moments she'd had in days.

* * *

Ellie made her way down the stairs.

Then she saw her sister kissing Lukas.

And then she climbed back upstairs.

* * *

 _Oh._

 **Well, fuck.  
**

 _Becky appears to have died._

 **She's not dead, she just passed out.**

 _Becky appears to have fainted._

 **Better.**

 _So I guess it's just you and me doing the note now._

 **Just so Becky doesn't murder us, the final word count is 2,362, and this chapter was uploaded on 12/10/16.**

 _Anyone know how Becky di-er, passed out?_

 **Fangirlism.**

 _Oh. Of course.  
_

 **It's a shame. There were some lovely reviews. I guess now she'll never get to read themq;lscnflksaew**

I'M AWAKE

 _Okay. Well, we now give you review replies from the author herself.  
_

Before I reply to reviews, I'd just like to say that holy fuck, you guys are the best.  


RebekahTPE: I guess a lot of us are younger than we seem. And no, I see us all that way too. That has not happened to me, though. I get the feeling that happened to you before you posted the review and it was on your mind so you decided to put it into your RQLC. By the way, have I mentioned how much I love getting RQLCs?  


NinjaCat: Who said I was going to? I love writing this; even if everyone stopped reading this I would continue.

Ariza Luca: Yeah, I suppose it excuses the trash that is this fanfic. XD

Starwolf22: It's all they SHOULD care about, but people don't like kids on the Internet. It's an unfortunate fact.

Hope you enjoyed! Bye!


	5. It's So Cold

Hey there, peeps! It's me, Becky, and I'm here with...these two.

 _Hey._

 **Hi.**

I'm back with a new chappie, in any case! Also, my mouth feels weird as hell because I was just at the orthodontist this morning and he put a metal thing in. Some sort of expander. All it seems to be doing right now is making me suck at talking.  


 **Too bad, so sad, nobody cares.  
**

 _Ellie, I swear to Notch!_

 **I'm the older sister here, you know.  
**

 _You sure as hell don't act like it!_

Geez, I just thought I'd give an update on my life. Let's just get to the chapter. Enjoy!  


* * *

When the two teens broke apart, there was a moment where you could hear a pin drop.

"Sorry." Petra muttered.

Lukas just laughed slightly. "For what?"

"For... _that._ "

"Don't apologize." Lukas smiled at her. "Honestly? I liked that."

There was silence for a solid two minutes while Petra tried to process the situation.

She had kissed Lukas Porter and he had liked it.

 _She had kissed Lukas Porter and he had liked it._

SHE HAD KISSED LUKAS FUCKING PORTER AND HE HAD FUCKING LIKED IT.

Maybe Wither Sickness caused delusions. Maybe she was dreaming.

Or maybe this was real.

Some pretty crazy shit had gone down over the course of the past couple days. Given that giant Super-Withers could be built using unfamiliar blocks that made them virtually invincible, who was to say she couldn't kiss the boy she'd liked since she was eleven and have him like it?

"Petra? Minecraftia to Petra?" Lukas's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Are you there?"

"Yeah. I'm there." She muttered.

"You don't seem like you're there."

"Well, I am."

"I guess I'll take your word for that."

They both laughed in spite of themselves. "I'm going to go talk to Ellie." Petra said after a moment.

Lukas nodded. "Sure, you do that. I'll be down here."

* * *

"Hey." Ellie muttered when she saw her sister come upstairs. She was sitting on some stone bricks.

"Hi." Petra said, plopping herself down next to Ellie.

Ellie was silent for a moment, debating whether or not she wanted to tell Petra what she'd seen.

 **To tell or not to tell? That is the question.**

With anyone else, she would have preferred to fuck around with them and torture them until they freaked out and ran screaming from her. Ellie had never been a particularly good person.

But Petra was different. So Ellie decided to be frank with her.

"I saw you two kissing." She deadpanned.

Petra's slightly pale cheeks gained color-wait, when had they been pale at all? Ellie decided not to question it. It was probably just a trick of the light. "You-I-how-when- _what?_ " She sputtered.

"English, please. I don't speak Crazy." Ellie joked.

"How did I not notice you?" Petra asked, having calmed down somewhat.

"Magic." Ellie snapped her fingers.

"No, seriously."

"I was quiet." Ellie shrugged.

"No shit."

"Very quiet."

Petra rolled her eyes.

"But enough about me; I want to know what the fuck happened down there."

"There's not much to tell." Petra answered truthfully. "We were just talking. There was the perfect moment, and I couldn't help myself, so I kissed him."

"Look, I'm not saying I want you to go all crazy, because I really don't. But I feel like it's weird that you aren't even excited about this." Ellie commented.

"Weird? I think a better word would be 'practical.'"

Ellie's expression turned deadpan. "What."

"There's a monster destroying the notchdamn world!" Petra exclaimed. "There's no time to get excited because I just kissed my crush! We have bigger things to worry about!"

Ellie had to clench her teeth to stop herself from snapping at Petra. Nobody said anything after that.

* * *

Olivia was back.

And she'd brought Ellegaard.

Petra had, reluctantly, gone downstairs to greet them.

It had been painfully awkward. Olivia had been amazed upon seeing that Petra was not dead, and she'd attempted to hug the other girl.

Petra had refused.

It wasn't that she didn't like hugs, because she was totally cool with them.

It was just that her body temperature had dropped noticeably, and hugging would make that obvious.

Declining a hug was a bitchy move, yeah, but making everyone else worry because she was sick was even bitchier.

After quickly introducing herself to Ellegaard, she'd pretty much bolted, not caring what sort of person that made her seem like.

Ellie seeked her out a few minutes later. "What the hell was that?" She demanded.

Petra just shrugged.

"Don't you fucking shrug at me! I just-" Ellie scowled. "Look, I'm not going to act like a good person, because you and I both know I'm not one." Ellie grabbed Petra by the shoulders and began to shake her. "You don't just abandon someone in the middle of a con-" The auburn-haired girl stopped short when Petra's body temperature registered in her mind. "Holy shit, Petra, you're fucking _freezing._ "

Petra flinched. "It-it's nothing." She stuttered out.

" _Nothing?_ Petra, humans are not naturally this cold."

"You're exaggerating. I'm not _that_ cold." Both girls knew it was a lie.

"Yes, you are." Ellie deadpanned.

"Well, my body temperature is none of your fucking business!" Petra didn't tend to resort to those types of arguments, but she was desperate.

"It is when you're practically hypothermic from how cold you are! How are you even _alive_ with a body temperature like this?!"

Something inside Petra snapped them. "Fuck off!" She growled. "I didn't fucking ask you, nor do I want to hear a notchdamn thing you have to say!" Something in the back of her mind said that this was a bad idea, but she ignored that part of her mind.

Ellie was frozen.

Swearing wasn't new to either of them. Petra had been saying 'fuck' like it was nothing by the time she was 11. They both had tendencies to swear excessively; it was just who they were.

But those swear words were never directed at each other. The world had always treated them like shit, and all they had were each other. You don't curse at the one person you can consistently depend on if necessary, nor do you tell them things like what Petra had just said, even without the profanity.

So naturally, when those words came out of Petra's mouth, Ellie was taken aback.

Her mouth moved, but no sound came out for a few moments. Finally, she managed, "You don't mean that."

"You don't know what I mean and don't mean!"

"Not for certain, but I know you pretty damn well, and I know that you wouldn't say something like that to me and mean it!"

Petra was silent for a moment, and her hands were tightly clenched into fists. "Fuck, Ellie, I don't even know if I meant it or not." She said after about a minute. She appeared to be calmer. "Just...please, just don't ask me about this again right now. I'm really not in the mood. Maybe..." She hesitated. "Maybe later."

Ellie didn't speak for a minute. She wanted to ask again, but she knew her sister, and she knew that if Petra didn't answer the first time, she didn't plan on answering the second, third, or fourth times unless she changed her mind, which she didn't seem to be doing at that moment.

So the older girl just nodded. "Okay."

* * *

A couple more days passed before Jesse and Axel came back too. They brought Magnus.

Petra had just been leaning against the wall when Lukas came downstairs. _Jesse's back!_ He mouthed. Opening the door, he said, "You guys are never going to believe who showed up while you were gone." _Oh, lovely, he's making a big fucking deal out of it._

" _Petra?_ " Jesse gasped.

"Hey, guys. How's it going?" Petra asked. She did a fairly good job of acting like she wasn't dying slowly.

Reuben ran in circles around her, squealing excitedly, and Petra rubbed his head. "Petra! You made it!" Axel attempted to hug her, but she dodged it, not caring how bitchy it seemed. Axel looked more annoyed, but she chose to ignore it.

"It's great to see you, too. And…it's really good to see you, Jesse." There was an uncomfortable pause where they would have hugged under normal circumstances. Jesse clearly didn't know whether or not to do it, and Petra refused to due to her freezing cold body. Finally, the silence was broken by Petra continuing, "Back there in Gabriel's bunker…it got pretty dicey."

Jesse nodded. "I just don't understand. How the hell did you escape?"

"You pulled me out of that Witherstorm's clutches and I ran, and ran, and fucking _ran_ for the temple. If you hadn't saved me…" Petra didn't want to think about that. "Well, I owe you everything, Jesse. I'm just glad I heard Gabriel telling you where to go."

"But…" Jesse hesitated for a few moments, as if she didn't want to talk. And when she continued her sentence, that made complete sense to Petra. "What about Gabriel? Did he get away too? Did you see?"

 _Shit_. Petra had known that people asking this was inevitable-she was lucky nobody had asked it yet-but she'd still been dreading it. "It's all a blur, but…the Witherstorm left almost nothing behind. Everything, everyone…it-it was all just gone." Petra turned around and started walking. _Maybe if I say the next part quietly enough, they won't hear it._ "It even got Gabriel." She practically forced the words out. There. It was said. No going back.

Everything was silent for a few moments, which wasn't quite what Petra had expected. She'd expected something more along the lines of freaking out, but that had been wrong, clearly. They climbed up the stairs. "Wow. Been a while since I've seen this place-damn." Magnus commented. Then he turned his head. "What. Is. _She_ doing here?"

Fuck. "Call this a hunch," Petra began dryly, "but do you two not like each other?"

"Right, um. I forgot to mention: Olivia went on a little expedition of her own while you were gone." Lukas said.

"And this Olivia person," Magnus said 'Olivia' the way most people would say 'Dora The Explorer',"came back with _her?_ Did you know about this? Did Ellegaard put you up to this? You think you know a guy and then, bam!"

"Everyone's just coming and going around here." Lukas muttered. He seemed more than a little pissed off.

"Olivia's a friend of mine." Jesse defended Olivia. "I didn't know she was going off to recruit Ellegaard. Magnus, you've got to believe me here."

"Well, I certainly don't have anything to say to _her_."

"Jesse! Jesse! Look-I found Ellegaard!" Olivia called, seeming a little overexcited.

"Just hang on a sec, okay?" Jesse said to Magnus. She looked exasperated. "I'll figure out what's going on."

"Good. You do that." _Oh my fucking Notch. Is Magnus really hung up on this petty rivalry that he and Ellegaard seem to have? There's a giant monster eating the world here!_

Jesse headed over to Ellegaard and Olivia, presumably to talk about this situation.

Magnus soon headed over to Jesse, Ellegaard, and Olivia. Shortly after, both Magnus and Ellegaard stormed off, and Petra could hear Jesse say, "Uh, people? Can we _please_ focus on the bigger picture here? We have a very hungry Witherstorm in the process of turning the whole world into its dinner!"

"Yeah, I'll admit, that thing looked real nasty. And I've seen some damn nasty things in my time." Magnus said.

"Too much for you, was it? Your usual brutish approach didn't cut it?" Ellegaard snapped.

"Hey! You weren't there, all right? You didn't see how this thing just tore _everything_ up!"

"Holy crap, will you two just stop fighting?!" Jesse yelled.

"Whoa!" Magnus exclaimed.

"Yikes."

"Jesse's right." Petra spoke up from her spot next to Lukas. "It doesn't matter what it takes-we have to find some way to stop that thing."

"Well, I don't know if you've taken a look around, but this place isn't nearly the stronghold it used to be. Most of our supplies are gone." Ellegaard said in response.

"It would take a mountain of TNT to kill that thing!" Magnus said instantly. He seemed slightly excited at the prospect, which Petra supposed made sense for someone like him.

"I hate to say it, but you have a point." Ellegaard admitted.

"This is amazing." Axel commented.

"I know." Olivia agreed.

"Are they…getting along?" Lukas asked.

"So then what the hell are we gonna do?" Jesse asked. "How are we going to stop it?"

"Well, for starters, let's not panic. That's a good first step." Ellegaard started.

"But even if we had all the TNT from miles around, I don't know if even that would be enough." Magnus responded.

"If only Soren were here." Ellegaard sighed. "He might have something we could use."

"Oh, Ellie, not this again." Magnus scoffed. "You know I hate when you brag about you and Soren's little brainy club."

"And I hate it when you call her Ellie." Ellie spoke up.

"Too fucking bad, kid." Magnus snapped, not even bothering to ask why. He probably didn't care.

"In any case, I'm not bragging! I think I've got a legitimate idea here."

"There's something stronger than TNT?" Jesse said in disbelief.

"Soren had a kind of Super TNT; it was stronger and more explosive than anything else in the world." Ellegaard explained. "The Formidi-Bomb."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Magnus scoffed. "I've heard all about the F-Bomb before." _Oh, holy fuck, he did_ not!

"F-Bomb?" Axel repeated.

"Yeah. Soren claimed that dropping the F-Bomb could destroy anything."

"Fuck." Ellie said. "Nope. Nothing got destroyed. I call bullshit." She smirked.

Nobody responded, which was probably the best idea. "That's perfect." Jesse said. "That is literally perfect. We should go get it, now."

"Well, there's a little problem there: We don't know where Soren is." Ellegaard pointed out. "But you found us. Do you know where he is?" They all headed over to the giant map. "Our map could locate him. That is, unless he's in the Nether. Or the End. But it's worth a shot."

"He wasn't on the map." Jesse pointed out. Nobody spoke after that, choosing to instead break apart into groups. Reuben seemed to have some sort of a piggy detector (if that was a thing) for when someone was sick, because the instant Petra sat down on some quartz stairs, he sat down beside her.

Jesse came over after a couple minutes. "How're you doing, Petra?"

"Fine." Petra barely even looked at the other girl.

Jesse flinched. "You sure?"

"Positive. Just leave me alone." She snapped.

Jesse sighed and turned around, going back to her task.

Then, out of nowhere, two lights came out of the amulet. One was green, and one was red. Petra stood, despite the protests from her body, and joined the group.

"Alright, there's your light, my light…" Magnus was cut off by a third light showing up that was the color of a beacon when you didn't put any glass above it.

"That's new." Axel said.

"There he is." Ellegaard confirmed. "Soren had his fortress deep inside the mountains. After the Order broke up, that's where he went to keep doing his experiments."

"Look, he invited me there a couple times, but it always seemed a little…" Magnus hesitated.

"Weird, right?" Ellegaard finished for him. "It always seemed a little weird."

"Glad we can agree on _that_ , at any rate."

"So he'll help us, right?" Jesse asked.

That was when the amulet crackled and a bright blue light came into view. _Holy fuck_. It wasn't Gabriel-that was impossible. Petra had seen him die herself. But…who was it, then, if not Gabriel?

"Blue? Blue?! Shit! That's Ivor!" Jesse exclaimed.

"Ivor is going to Soren's! We need to move!" Ellegaard said.

"It's not too far." Jesse observed. "We could probably make it on foot."

"Perfect. We can wait until tomorrow morning and travel with a full day's sunlight." Ellegaard said.

"And risk that thing catching up with us?" Magnus argued. "I think I've had enough Witherstorm for one day, thank you very much."

"We should leave in the morning." Jesse said immediately.

"An excellent call, Jesse. And far more decisive than either of us are being."

"What a coincidence that it's your plan! But fine." With that, the group began preparing for nightfall.

* * *

Final word count: 2,777

Chapter uploaded: 12/19/16

Hope you enjoyed! It's just me here right now because I'm feeling fairly uncreative after all this.

Review replies!

Ariza Luca: I personally think it's trash, but I don't tend to think very highly of myself. Thanks, though.  


RebekahTPE: YAY I GOT SOMEONE ELSE TO SHIP THE OTP!

We all have weird ships, don't worry. XD

Who is this Sierra you speak of?

To answer the RQLC, I'd rather have the Force because it's fucking amazing.

SquiddyTheBlaze: Heh, that's Ellie for you.

Guest: Oh, you did not.

I have a question-do you think Gommie's response to you was bad?

Well, get ready. This is worse. Because unlike the other two authors whose stories you shit all over, I am not a nice person.

So you're about to have a bad time.

Now, where do I begin?

First off, there isn't a damn thing about ANYONE'S family in-game. I don't care what you think of Petra's family; this fic belongs to me, not you.

Second, she's voiced by Ashley Johnson. Why shouldn't that be her last name? It's not like she has a canon one, so really, anything is valid.

Third, what, exactly, does this defy? And I saw the series. Numerous times, in fact.

News flash: This is my fanfic, not yours. Maybe this goes against your headcanons, but you shouldn't shove yours down my throat. The things you think aren't going to do shit. If that's how you think of the characters, write your own fucking fanfic. But don't come to random stories with a lot of time and effort put into them and shit all over them.

And you know what? It makes things worse that you didn't stop here. You shit all over The First Guests by GirlOfMyOwnWorld and Glitch by Ariza Luca, which are a couple of the best stories on here by a couple of the best authors on here.

Just because they went against your headcanons.

You don't have to agree with what people imagine for characters, but you DO have to respect it.

Whoever wrote that review, do me a goddamn favor and never read this fanfic again.

Everyone else, I'll see you next chapter. Bye!


	6. Confession

**It's been too fucking long.  
**

 _What she said. I mean, how long ago did she post the last chapter? Six months? Seven?  
_

I'm sorry, okay?  


 **I guess I'll forgive you this time, but only because we're going on new adventures, with or without you.  
**

Wha?

 **Pfft, like ya don't know. That whole 'Season 2' thing? It doesn't matter how slow you write; we're having way cooler adventures now.  
**

 _Do you want to tell her, or should I?  
_

You tell her! She's less likely to punch you in the face!

 _Right, and a fist is just going to smash through your computer screen and break your nose. You're the one who abandoned us in favor of cyclops Dorito demons, so-called 'benders', and magic gemstone ladies. You pay the price now.  
_

I think I need a new favorite character.  


 **Are you going to tell me, or not?  
**

Fuck, fine. Ellie...you're not going on any of the new adventures until I get to that bit of the story.  


 **Say what now.  
**

This is the only world where you exist. The original universe doesn't have you. I made you up. Since this is the only timeline you're in, this is the only timeline where you go on the adventures, and I control the timeline.  


 **SAY WHAT NOW?!  
**

Look, I'll try and get these chapters out faster!  


 **You had damn well better!  
**

* * *

The sun had almost completely set, and the sky was a dark blue.

Everyone had split off into their own groups, and there were numerous conversations going on.

Jesse was sitting alone against some gravel. Olivia and Ellegaard were talking, Axel and Magnus were talking, and so were Petra and Lukas. Ellie was watching the last two.

Everyone was trying to have normal conversations like there wasn't a Wither destroying the world. They had an opportunity to act normal, and they were sure as hell taking it.

"So how're you holding up?" Lukas asked.

Petra shrugged. "I'm doing alright, given the circumstances."

"Why do I get the feeling that means you're not doing alright at all?"

"Because you're smart, maybe." The redheaded teen admitted. "I mean, physically I'm perfectly fine, but mentally I'm a fucking wreck."

"We all are." Lukas assured her. "But we just have to hope that things will be f-" He stopped short when Petra's neutral expression became a grimace. "Whoa, you sure you're physically fine?"

Petra took a couple deep breaths, trying to ignore the sudden searing pain in her left arm. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Really? Because you don't seem fine." Lukas appeared to be incredibly unconvinced.

"I'm totally fine." Petra lied, doing her best to seem convincing. "Just...tired. Yeah. So I'm probably going to get into bed now..." She bolted, leaving Lukas sitting there, very concerned for his friend who he clearly had only platonic feelings for. Totally.

He nonchalantly glanced at the very scary older girl a few feet away from him. Well, if you didn't know Ellie she wouldn't have appeared that scary-she was just a tall girl with a scar across her eyebrow-but Lukas had known her for years, and he knew that she could make quite a bit of blood come from his nose if she chose to.

All in all, he had no desire to talk to her.

But she was the only person Petra trusted more than him. So if she wouldn't tell him what was wrong, then that only left Ellie.

Lukas took a moment to weigh the pros and cons.

Pros:

-He might find out what was wrong with Petra

Cons:

-Ellie might smash his face in

Lukas wasn't entirely certain of why he thought it was worth it, but he did.

"Is Petra okay?" He asked quietly, walking up to Ellie.

"No." She answered bluntly.

 _Well, that was surprisingly straightforward._ Lukas waited for her to elaborate, but there was nothing. "Okay…do you know what's wrong with her, then?"

The answer was the same. "No."

Lukas raised an eyebrow. "Then why'd you sound so sure before?" He asked.

"Because it's obvious. _Tired?_ Pfft. Tired, my ass. Face the facts. She's not okay."

"I would've thought she'd talk to you about it." Lukas thought out loud.

"Yeah, well, guess what? _She didn't._ " Ellie said the last part through clenched teeth. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm tired as fuck, and I'd like to at least _try_ to talk to my sister, so I'll be going now." Standing up, she turned on her heel and headed down the stairs.

 _That_ had been one hell of a failure.

* * *

Petra wasn't there.

Ellie didn't know why, but she was the only person in that room. There were plenty of beds, but none of them contained her sister.

 **Next.**

She wasn't in the hallway.

 **Fine, then.**

After a bit of searching, Ellie finally found the younger girl sitting behind the temple, legs pulled up against her chest. It was unclear what she was thinking-they were both masters at hiding their feelings. It was an acquired skill.

"Hey."

Petra flinched, turning around. "Oh, hi. Didn't see ya there."

"Ellie, master of sleuthing." She deadpanned, sitting down next to Petra.

Nothing. Not even a chuckle.

"Alright, something's wrong."

"What?" Petra's eyes widened for a moment. "No, I'm fine."

"Riiiight." Ellie raised an eyebrow. "You're fine. So that's why you've been acting dodgy, avoiding everyone, and hypothermic levels of cold since you came back. Because you're _just fucking fine._ "

Petra looked uncomfortable, more so than she did in large groups. Ellie felt a twinge of guilt, but she was damn sure she'd feel more guilty if she left Petra to her own devices when she was obviously not at her best. "Look, nothing's wrong, okay?"

"Stop it." Ellie snapped. "Stop giving me that _bullshit_. I'm not _blind._ I can see pretty fucking clearly that you are _not_ fine, that something _is_ wrong, and that for whatever reason, you aren't telling anyone. _Why?!_ "

" _Yeah,_ something's wrong!" Petra exclaimed. "There's a giant monster eating the world and we seem to be its only hope! _None_ of us are okay right now! Why are you dead set on me spilling my guts?!"

"Because-" Ellie shook her head. "Because there's something wrong with you that isn't wrong with anyone else. There's something going on, and I don't care _how_ many times you pretend to be alright-I'm not backing off until you tell me the truth."

For a few minutes, nobody spoke. The only sound filling the air was crickets, far-off monsters in places that weren't safely lit up like their area was, and their own heartbeats.

"We can talk about it tomorrow." Petra finally responded.

"Like I believe that." Ellie rolled her eyes. "Somehow, I get the feeling you don't plan on talking about it today, or tomorrow, or ever."

"I'm serious, Eleanor!" Ellie flinched at the name-Petra _never_ called her that unless she meant serious business and was beyond fed up. Only _they_ had ever called her by her full first name. "Look, it's late, everyone's tired…this is _really_ not a good time. Tomorrow, we'll talk about it."

"Ugh, fine. Promise?"

"I promise."

"You're lucky I'm exhausted." Ellie narrowed her eyes, getting up to return to the temple. Petra didn't move, though. "Are ya coming, or...?"

"Oh. Right. Give me a few minutes."

"Fine. But if you're not inside in ten, I'm coming out and not going back in without you in tow."

Petra snickered a bit at that. "I get the feeling you're a hundred percent serious about that, but I can promise you I'll be inside before you have to make good on it."

* * *

She wanted to tell her.

It wasn't exactly getting any better, and she was pretty sure it was getting worse. She just needed to tell someone, _anyone_ , because not saying anything about it to anyone was going to drive her insane.

Besides, when she died, hopefully Ellie would be able to explain to everyone why she'd spontaneously dropped dead.

But now? Not the best time. They were both tired, that was true, but when it came down to it, her only motivation was where they were now and where they would be tomorrow.

Because tomorrow, they'd be on the road and it would be too late for Ellie to tell her _no you can't come you're dying slowly._

Petra wasn't entirely certain of what would come after all that, but that wasn't important. They needed to take down that Witherstorm before they focused on anything else.

* * *

By some miracle, everyone managed to get some sleep, and by morning they were off.

"Well, that thing's probably gonna catch up with us and then we'll all be dead, but 'least I got some damn sleep and now I'm ready to blast." Magnus remarked, giving Ellegaard an irritated glance.

"None of us had the energy to walk all this way last night." Ellegaard snapped in response.

"Yeah? Well, tell me about how much energy is gonna matter when we're _d_ -"

"Guys, cut it out." Jesse interrupted. "Now's not the time to be arguing."

"Fine, we can save it for after we're dead." Magnus scoffed.

The mutual decision between everyone to not respond was probably a good idea. Not only because Magnus was not the sort of person you wanted to argue with, but also because it meant that not having anything else to focus on meant everyone heard the growl right away, and almost everyone recognized it.

"Oh, _shit_." Magnus cursed. "I _said_ it would catch up with us, but did anyone listen? _No!_ "

"Holy crap." Ellegaard breathed. "Is that..."

Unfortunately for them, the shade brought from the Witherstorm's giant body blocking the sun was the perfect spot for the monsters to leave their hiding spots. And when monsters and humans are in the same spot...

"We can hash that out later." Lukas said. "Right now, though? We've got some monsters to fight!"

They realized pretty quickly that the monsters weren't what they needed to worry about. To the Witherstorm, a creeper, a skeleton, any monster was just as satisfying to it as a human. After most of the mobs being fought never died to their hands because of the Witherstorm sucking them up, everyone was finally able to run from everything, getting back to going to Soren's-at a much faster pace this time, though.

"I think I died." Jesse muttered once they finally made it to Soren's fortress.

"Ditto on that one." Axel panted.

Surprisingly enough, the glass blocking the way inside moved out of the way in an instant once everyone was in front of it. Soren had probably automated it somehow-this was made even more likely when the doorway closed back up once everyone was inside.

"Soren really lived down here? So far from...anyone." Lukas remarked.

"Enchanting, isn't it?" Ellegaard replied dryly.

Petra stopped abruptly, beginning to cough. _Dammit, it's getting worse._

Despite the concerned looks she noticed from Jesse and Lukas and the we-need-to-talk expression Ellie had, Petra decided that the best idea was to pretend that hadn't happened, and she did just that.

In the next room were a number of columns, placed in a way that it was clear to everyone what they had to do-parkour.

"Okay, I am _really_ not feeling these columns." Lukas said.

"Oh, come on!" Magnus scoffed. "It's fine!" He promptly turned on his heel, jumping to the first column with relative ease. "See?"

Axel was quick to follow, and when the column didn't collapse from having him on ELLIE THIS IS PETRA'S BIT YOU COME LATER DAMMIT

Anyways, when neither Axel nor Magnus seemed to have much trouble getting across the parkour, everyone reluctantly followed them, and most of them got across.

Key word: _most_.

Petra was about halfway across when she heard a familiar scream. Turning around, she called, "Was that Jesse?"

"I'm going down for her!" She heard Lukas call back.

"Wha-Notch, Lukas, who _knows_ how dangerous it is?"

"Jesse does now! Two weapons are better than one!"

"But-" Before she could finish, Lukas had jumped down. It was probably for the better-she didn't even know what she'd been about to say.

One thing that was clear, though, was that the chances of Lukas liking Jesse had just gotten a lot higher.

Sure, maybe they'd kissed back at the temple, and she'd taken that to mean he liked her back, but for all she knew, he'd just been being nice. Notch knew that was the sort of thing he would do-he wasn't the kind of person who would give you a disgusted look and run off if he didn't like you like that.

But it didn't matter. He could get with Jesse if it was what they wanted. There would be another guy.

Actually, there probably wouldn't be. It didn't really matter.

* * *

"Guys, I think we should follow Ellegaard."

After the two Order members they'd managed to round up had stormed off in separate directions, everyone had pretty much just kept to themselves while Jesse decided who they should go after. Even though everyone looked to be in their own worlds, her voice still managed to get the attention of everyone in the room. She wasn't half bad at this whole 'leader' thing.

Everyone made their way over to the entrance to the hall Ellegaard had gone down, Jesse striking some coal against a stick in an attempt to have a torch.

"Hey, wait."

Five heads turned at Petra's voice. "Think Ellie and I could go the other way? I'm not trying to worry you guys, I just need to talk to her in private about something."

Jesse nodded. "Okay, let's split up." At that moment, the stick was finally lit aflame from her attempts, which hadn't ceased for a moment. "Hey, look at that!" Taking out another stick, she lit it with the original torch. "You guys need?"

"Yeah, sure." Ellie shrugged, taking the torch.

"Be careful."

"I should be telling you that, but okay."

* * *

The torch turned out to be incredibly useful-although the hallway was well lit at first, it slowly dimmed, and the hall grew dark, darker, yet darker.

"Okay, so if this isn't about whatever the hell is wrong with you, I'm smashing someone's face." Ellie snapped once they were a safe distance into the hall.

"Well, you won't need to smash any faces, because that's what it's about." Normally, half-banter like this would have the both of them smiling at least a little, but right now, Ellie was pissed and Petra was terrified. Needless to say, there were no smiles in the room.

"Go on."

Petra stopped walking, her expression losing its fear and becoming grim. "Jesse saved me from that Witherstorm's tractor beam, but…I think she just bought me time."

"Wait, what do you-"

Petra didn't let her sister finish, electing to instead respond by rolling up the single sleeve her shirt had left, revealing the horror that was her left arm.

"Holy fucking-" Ellie shook her head. "Is that what I think it is?"

"If you think it's Wither, then yes."

Ellie began muttering strings of profanities Petra hadn't even known existed until then. When she appeared to have sufficiently expressed her feelings on what was happening, she continued, "What do we do? Do you have milk? Some kind of, I dunno, potion? We need _something_ -that shit is deadly."

"Milk doesn't work." Petra decided to cut Ellie off before her desperation became full-on ranting and it was impossible to shut her up. "I already tried it. This is the _Witherstorm_ , not a typical Wither. There's nothing we can do, Ellie. I just needed to tell someone before I exploded."

"Why didn't you tell _everyone?_ " Ellie demanded. "Maybe someone knows something we can do! A way to cure it, or at least improve it or slow it down! Telling just me won't-"

"No." Petra said firmly. "You can't tell _anyone_ about this."

"Are you _insane?!_ " Ellie exclaimed. "You might be alright now, but this isn't going to get any better!"

"Exactly."

"I'm sorry?"

"It doesn't matter who I tell or don't tell. You said it yourself-this isn't going to get any better. Telling the the others is just going to make them worry, and that's the last thing we need right now. If this becomes more of a thing, then maybe I'll tell someone else. Eventually. But _please_ , let me do it myself." What scared Ellie the most was that Petra was, essentially, _begging_ her. Petra didn't consider herself above a lot of things, but begging was one of the few that she refused to do. That was probably what pushed Ellie to make her decision.

"Okay."

If Petra had been paying closer attention to her sister's body language, she would have noticed that both of Ellie's hands were conspicuously hidden behind her back.

"Guys!"

Hurriedly pushing her sleeve down, Petra turned towards the sound of the voice. After a few moments, Lukas came rushing up to them. "Guys, there was a creeper, and-"

"Shit, is everyone okay?" Petra interrupted.

"I think so, yeah, but it turns out there's more tunnels below us, and when the creeper blew up, Jesse fell down, so now we're separated."

Ellie muttered a few choice words. "So what now?"

"We're just continuing down the tunnels." Lukas answered. "They have to go somewhere eventually, and hopefully that somewhere is the same place for all of us."

"Yeah, okay, but what if it isn't?"

"Then…I guess we go back."

"Real solid plan ya got there."

"Ellie, cut him some slack."

"No, it's fine. I know it's not a great plan, but it's all we've got." Lukas responded.

"Well…" Petra shook her head, shrugging a little. "Let's get walking, I guess."

As it turned out, the tunnel wasn't quite as long as one might have thought. It was a fair distance, yeah, but it didn't take too long for the trio to reach an enormous library.

"Holy…" Even Ellie was too in awe at the sheer size of this thing to finish her sentence by delivering a swear word or two or twenty.

"I love reading and all, but this is a bit much." Lukas attempted to joke. It fell disappointingly flat.

"Guess this is where the tunnels all lead to." Petra commented.

Ellie probably would've responded, but she was cut off by the sound of another voice. "I mean, _I'm_ here with the Order to find Soren's super TNT so we can take down the Witherstorm. You know, the one that _you_ spawned. What's your excuse?" That was Jesse.

They cautiously made their way over to the source of the voice, which appeared to be coming through a crack in some bookshelves, just wide enough to squeeze through.

"The Order?" No, no, no, no, no. "Hah. That plan'll blow up in their faces, and not just literally." It wasn't him. It _couldn't_ be. "They cannot help you. Me, though? I am choosing not to." It was him.

The three of them exchanged glances. Ivor was here. He'd beaten them to the punch.

"Out of my way." Ivor wanted to get out?

He'd have to get through her, first.

"Let me handle this." Petra whispered. She had more than a few bones to pick with this guy-hell, it was more like an entire skeleton.

"I'm not letting you go in there alone." Ellie insisted.

"Sorry, Ivor. I'm-" Jesse was cut off by the sound of a shove.

Petra narrowed her eyes. "Well, then it's a good thing I've always been a rebel." Turning on her heel, she walked right through the hole in the shelves, drawing her sword.

"Bitch, you're not going anywhere if I can help it."

"Petra?" Ivor looked visibly surprised. "You escaped."

"Damn right I did." Petra inched closer to the older man, slowly backing him into a corner. "Don't think I'll be able to say the same for you soon, though."

Unfortunately for her, she hadn't taken into account the fact that she'd backed him into the corner with the gold swords hung up in a line. Not the best weapon, but it was enough for one to hold their ground, and Ivor knew that.

"Stupid girl!" He scoffed, grabbing a sword and beginning to attack. "I-"

"Shut the hell up." Petra snapped. "I _could not_ give less of a shit what you have to say. I'm just going to take you down, ya hear me?"

"Petra, let him go." Jesse interjected. When Petra didn't acknowledge her presence, she continued, "He's not worth it."

"Over my dead fucking body." Petra snapped, continuing to block Ivor's hits and attempt to land her own. "I just escaped one monster; the last thing I'm doing is letting the next one get away."

Jesse drew her sword, knocking Ivor down and away from Petra. "I'm the only one who can stop the Witherstorm!" He exclaimed as he got up. "Not you foolish girls, not your friends, and certainly not the Order! Don't make yourselves the villains in my story."

Ivor went for Jesse next, his sword clanging against hers before she was thrown to the floor. She recovered quickly, though, returning to her feet and blocking his hits before putting him in the same position he'd left her in just before.

Just as he was getting up, Petra threw him back down with the blunt side of her sword. "You're not going anywhere, bitch."

The two girls backed him into a corner, but instead of attacking, Ivor just said, "This could have all been avoided if you had just kept to yourselves. But if you want to stop me, you'll have to catch me first!" He took out a glass bottle filled with a light blue liquid, drinking from it.

"Jesse, look out!" Petra swung at Ivor, but he was across the room before her sword even made it to where he had been.

Ivor laughed as he rocketed across the room. "I'm like the wind!"

"You're not getting out of here that easily, Ivor." Petra muttered, not leaving her spot at the doorway.

In what seemed like slow motion, Ivor aimed to stab Jesse-no, it looked more like he was ready to cut her in half-and she narrowly avoided what would have been certain death. His next target was Petra. He had her on the ground after a single swing, but she'd never been a quitter.

"Out of my way!" The swings were impossibly fast, and Petra was already weakened, but still she stood her ground. "I'll cut through you if I have to!" She didn't doubt that he'd do it if he could, but she damn well wasn't going to let him.

Jesse sent him a few blocks out of the way mid-swing, stopping Petra in an instant.

"Don't tempt your fate." Ivor said as he stood up.

Suddenly, two other figures appeared in the 'doorway'. Two very familiar figures. One was tall and she wielded a sword, and the other was more average-sized, and he had a bow drawn.

"Where's Ivor?" Ellie asked.

"Swiftness potion," was all Jesse needed to say as she swung her gold sword around wildly in an attempt to catch him.

Lukas fired a couple arrows, but he decided to conserve them after they ended out nowhere near Ivor.

Finally, Jesse's sword connected with Ivor, and he was thrown down. The potion appeared to have run out.

"It didn't have to go this way." He snapped, backing up. "You all could have just let me go."

"You wish!" Petra snapped.

Ivor ignored her. "But now you see me, and now you-" He threw down a potion, disappearing in an instant, and the only sign that he was still in the room was his cackle.

"Keep your guard up, guys." Jesse hissed. "He could be anywhere."

"Vanish all you want, prick." Petra snapped. "You're still damn well not going anywhere."

That was when the potions started coming.

Splash potions. From their dark brown color, they were undoubtedly harming potions, and likely pretty strong ones, too. Ivor didn't seem to be aiming for anyone in particular-the potions went in the direction of all four of them, and if was all they could do to not get hit.

"End of the rail, Ivor." Petra said during a momentary pause of the potion bombardment. "We're not letting you get away. Not this time."

"Just for that," Ivor's voice said, "this next one's on you, you puffed-up fool of a girl!"

A potion identical to the last couple dozen or so came flying her way. Petra was more than ready to let her sword take the blow and get away mostly unharmed from that, but it seemed like Jesse had other ideas. In a stereotypically heroic leap, she sent the potion back towards where it came-where Ivor turned out to be.

Ivor reappeared a brief moment before being hit by his own potion, which sent him to the floor. It appeared to have weakened him somewhat; standing appeared to take more effort than was normal. "There's no time…no time for any of this…we could have avoided this all." Nobody was entirely certain of what that was supposed to mean, but now was _not_ the time to question it.

"You guys!" Well, Axel and Olivia had arrived too.

"And still there are more of you? Will this endless parade of useless babblers never cease?"

"What's going on?" Olivia asked.

"We found Ivor, and I think we stopped him." Jesse sounded unsure.

"You thought wrong." Ivor said. "You have stopped _nothing_. Now, if I may present a query, have any of you ever seen the effects of a splash potion of slowness?"

"What-" That was all Jesse managed before the potion was thrown down on all of them.

"-are you talking about?" They were in slow motion. _Super_ slow motion.

They tried to run for Ivor, but with the extreme handicap to their speed, nobody made it too far.

Before disappearing from the group's view, Ivor turned around. "Magnus and Ellegaard may think they can stop me-that they can destroy the Witherstorm-but they are mistaken. And it will cost them their lives."

And that was when the doors shut.

* * *

 **Guys, I need motivation to not murder Becky.**

 _You'll never go on the other adventures if you murder her._

 **That helps.**

You are literally incapable of murdering me.

 **Yeah, okay, but I still want to.**

Anyways. Review replies. Or rather, review reply.

RebekahTPE: Don't worry, that OC up there broke the fourth wall and also hates me now.

 **Why shouldn't I? You could've told me from the beginning, at least!**

Shush. I'm doing review replies. You're not allowed here. Anyways, killing that guest might be a bit much. Don't get yourslf arrested for a fanfic.

It took me six months to write 4k words. I don't think I'm all that motivated.

Ellie was exaggerating, but Petra's still pretty fucking cold.

To answer the RQTC, since I can't do Petra and Lukas, I'd have to go with Ivor and Harper. Other OTP!

Thanks for reading! I'm, like, 99% certain that next chapter will be up before another six months pass. Episode 3 is where the action really starts and (for me) the shipping starts seriously happening, so it's a lot more fun to write. Therefore, the chapter should be up sooner. Hope you enjoyed!


	7. Trapped

**Oh look, she actually uploaded.**

Shut up, it's only been a month.  


 **Not really an excuse, but I'll bite so we can get to the actual writing faster.  
**

 _Yeah, get this prissy-ass font away from me.  
_

Fine, I'll get the 'prissy-ass' font away from you.  


 **Good. Have we driven away all potential readers yet?  
**

...no. I'm 99% certain that they like this.  


 **Well, fuck, how am I supposed to piss you off now?  
**

You won't. Instead, everyone's going to read this chapter now.  


* * *

It was like a slo-mo segment in a movie when a dramatic moment happened, only there was no dramatic moment. There was just the six of them, left running after Ivor slower than a zombie on Soul Sand on top of ice.

Physics appeared to be slowed down for them, too; they'd been vaguely aware of that while "running" but it became all too clear when Axel tripped and, essentially, floated through the air.

"Watch…it!" A slowed-down Lukas attempted to warn. Time sped up then, and at his normal pace, he continued, "Get out of the way!"

Axel's fall accelerated to the proper speed, and he hit the floor, hard. "Aah!"

"Okay, what just happened?" Jesse asked.

Olivia shook her head. "Don't ask me. I was only there for the end."

"Ditto." Axel managed from the floor.

"Ivor happened." Petra offered.

"I guess he's an alchemist." Lukas commented.

"What was your first clue?" Ellie asked dryly.

She then got a punch in the arm from Petra's uninjured fist.

"Alright, well, let's get back on task here." Jesse said. "We need to find Soren."

"Yeah." Lukas agreed. "We just need to figure out a way to do that."

While Jesse, Axel, Olivia and Lukas discussed this, Petra slipped away, leaning against a quartz pedestal and examining her arm.

Somehow, it already looked worse than it had before. The purple was spreading, and the rest of the skin on that arm looked deathly pale, some of it already beginning to turn a faint shade of lavender that would only get more disturbing.

The aforementioned four group members were still focused on a method of getting out of the room they were in, but Ellie? At that moment, her main priority was her sister, who was looking less and less alive by the second.

"So how long do ya plan on keeping this a secret? Because I don't think it's such a good idea to go much longer without mentioning it."

"Gah!" Petra turned around in an instant, visibly relaxing when it registered in her mind that she hadn't been found out just yet. "Shit, Ellie, you scared me there."

"Yeah, okay, but what about how you're terrifying me with your dumbass plan to pretend you're not falling apart slowly?" Ellie snapped back.

"I'm fine!"

"Are you even _listening_ to yourself?! We _both_ know you're spouting absolute bullshit. Things are going to hell for you, and-and for the love of Notch, you don't even _care!_ "

"Guys, fight it out later." Jesse cut in. "I don't know what's going on with you two, but we don't have time for it right now. We need to focus on getting out of here and finding Soren."

"I've got an idea." Axel said.

"Let's hear it." Jesse nodded, putting her hands on her hips.

Turning towards the bookshelves, Axel cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Magnus! Help!"

There was a solid ten seconds of sheer awkward silence.

"Well, alright…but I have another idea!" Axel said.

"Let me guess: it's yelling for Ellegaard." Olivia deadpanned.

"What? No, that's not it…anymore."

"Look, I don't think they're coming back." Lukas said. "We've got no idea where they went."

"We'll be fine without them." Jesse assured the group. "As long as we have…" She rummaged through her inventory, "This!" She whipped out a flint and steel.

"Flint and steel?" Olivia furrowed her brow. "I don't think I get it."

"No, it's not-I pulled out the wrong thing." Jesse explained.

"I don't know; I think that works." Ellie commented. "The bookshelves are pretty flammable. We could probably burn them."

"Well, yeah, that's possible," Jesse said, "but it could be dangerous, and I doubt that's the way to Soren. In any case, let me try that again. As long as we have… _this_." This time, she pulled out the amulet. The red and green lights shone for a moment before dimming and going out.

"It looks like it might be broken." Petra spoke up.

"Here, let me look." Lukas reached for it, but Jesse kept a firm hold of it, and it escalated into a tug-of-war-esque thing.

"Do you mind?" Jesse snapped.

"I just want to see it." Lukas grunted.

"You can see it without touching." Jesse retorted.

"Well, it won't do much good if you can't get it to work."

"It's working just fine!"

That was when the white part of the amulet suddenly began glowing; Lukas let go in shock.

"Soren!" Jesse exclaimed. Looking around at everyone, she continued, "We need to find him. I'm going to look around. See where this," Jesse held up the amulet, "is the brightest."

After a short while of slowly wandering the room, Jesse appeared to come to a conclusion. "This is the spot. We've got to dig."

"Who knows how far down that goes?" Lukas pointed out as the group gathered around said spot. "I mean, we could wind up digging until we hit bedrock."

"It's the only way." Jesse insisted. "We've got to dig here, even if we do it with our hands."

"Don't dig with your hands." Petra deadpanned, tossing her iron pickaxe over to the other girl. "You'll break them. Use that."

"Oh. Yeah, that'll help. Thanks."

It started with everyone pitching in to dig, but the hole quickly became a solo job, with Jesse digging through the stone as fast as she could. To be fair, she had the pickaxe.

After digging down at least 20 blocks, Jesse appeared to have found something.

"Are we cool?" Axel asked.

Jesse looked up. "It's a hole!" She called.

"…does that mean we're cool?"

"Um, I'll find out!"

Jesse was kneeling there for a moment, presumably judging what the best course of action would be, before she tossed down the amulet. It didn't seem like the best idea ever, but it lit the lower area up a bit.

And then bats came flying out.

A lot of bats.

They quickly dispersed around the room, doing typical bat things and not paying much mind to the group.

"Aah!" Jesse exclaimed. "Okay… _that_ would've been bad." She jumped down, picking up the amulet again. "Alright, it looks safe to come down."

Olivia started climbing down first. Lukas and Reuben made it to the bottom shortly before her, though; jumping on the makeshift stairs Jesse had attempted to make was a much quicker route. Unfortunately for Lukas, Axel didn't use these stairs and jumped straight down...right on top of him.

"...ow." Lukas groaned.

Ellie was next, landing neatly on her feet. "Axel, don't suffocate Lukas." She deadpanned. "I can't say I care about him much, but we can't afford to lose the only smart guy on the team." Her voice had all the care of Herobrine.

"I'm sorry?" Olivia looked mildly offended.

"Right, whatever. Smart _est_ guy on the team, then. That satisfy ya?"

Before she could get a response, the final member of their team rejoined them. Petra was...not looking her best, to put it nicely.

"Everyone alright?" Jesse asked, obviously asking Petra more than anyone else.

"I'm fine, jeez." She responded. "Just slipped there. I'll take the pickaxe back."

"Oh, yeah. Here." The pickaxe was returned to its rightful owner.

"What's that smell?" Olivia asked.

"Breathe through your mouth." Petra advised. It smelled like...well, it was either her dying arm or zombies, and one limb couldn't make a stench that strong.

"Axel already does that." Lukas said.

"Hey..."

"Come on, guys." Jesse held up the amulet in front of her, using it as a sort of makeshift torch. "Let's get going." Their steps cautious, the group made their way down the hallway.

They just hadn't expected it to end so abruptly.

"Aah!" That was Lukas when he almost fell out of the tunnel down to…whatever was below. Regardless, the fall would kill on impact unless there was water, and the only water there was blocked by rapidly opening and closing pistons that would likely kill anyone who tried to get past.

"We have to get out of here!" Olivia exclaimed.

"What?" Lukas called.

"We have to get out of here!" She repeated.

"But we just got here." Axel protested.

Olivia shook her head. "No, you don't understand. This is a grinder!" Naturally, this prompted the rest of the group to take another look at what lay in front of them. Sure enough, there were countless other tunnels with mobs being pushed out of them using water, and they fell down below, where the pistons crushed them and their drops fell into the water. From there, well, it wasn't exactly very clear where the drops went. "They're supposed to kill monsters, but they can't distinguish between monsters and people!"

"A grinder all the way down here…it must be Soren's." Jesse said. "I don't know how we're going to get past this."

"But there should be a loot room down there, right?"

Axel received five deadpan expressions for that comment.

"I'm just saying…it's not all bad."

That's when there was a distinctive hissing noise, and when the six of them turned around, it confirmed what they'd all feared-the mobs of this tunnel had caught up with them, and these mobs were creepers.

The three members of the group with swords ran towards the creepers, beginning to fight them, but it was a losing battle from the start. There were far too many creepers, and only three of them…all in all, it really wasn't a surprise when a gaping hole was blown up in the side of the tunnel.

Jesse slowly walked towards it, pulling out the amulet, which began to glow intensely. "There he is. He's right down-"

That was when the water came.

Everyone had to scramble to avoid being pushed off, but in the haste, Jesse lost her grip on the amulet. Time seemed to slow as the group watched the amulet fall, helpless.

Then the world sped up again, and the water flowed out of the tunnel. The amulet went with it, though; it dropped onto the tops of different tunnels before finally coming to a halt at least a hundred feet down.

"Was that...?" Olivia didn't finish the question. She didn't need to.

"The amulet? Yes." Jesse sighed, walking to the edge of the floor where the hole started.

"Wait!" Olivia exclaimed. "Are you going to jump? _Please_ don't say you're going to jump."

"I'd rather not," Jesse admitted, "but it's the only choice we've got. Come on, everyone, just...tuck and roll."

Jesse was the first to jump, and she didn't tuck. Nor did she roll.

Everyone else quickly followed suit, jumping down and drawing any weapons they had.

"Well...time to catch that amulet."

And with that, they began their mission.

* * *

 **You made them wait a month for that?**

 _Okay, pause, I'm not gonna make you be nice, but you're going overboard there.  
_

 **Fine.  
**

Yeah, no. I'm not in the mood to write three voices. Bye, you two **.**  


...

Okay, it's just me now.

Hey look I uploaded a chapter a reasonable amount of time after the one before it. Who am I and what have I done with Becky.

I'm starting school Thursday which means my writing schedule is gonna be even more fucked up than before. Le sigh.

Just be glad you aren't reading my Undertale fanfic. That thing hasn't been updated since March but I DON'T HAVE THE MOTIVATION AAAAAH.

Okay, time to get to reviews before this note becomes undecipherable rambling.

Queenbitch: That's funny, because I'm 12 now and attempting to write what's probably gonna wind up as a book.  


Noname: Um...that was just another line of dialogue. Am I being made fun of?  


Tbh, I've changed their backstory about five times now. To all my readers: Just assume that whatever you're reading now is what's true for the story, because I tend to change things halfway through.

I don't know who that is, but she looks like Ellie from TLOU bc references.

I suppose it would be cooler, in hindsight, but I'm not very cool, so yeah, they're blood-related.

Control freak parents? Ouch. And yes, it is injustice that there is no cool sister there in your case.

Eh, she's not annoying so much as she is a jerk.

Ooh, I'm popular with dogs? Good to know.

Later!


	8. The Utopia

Hello friends, I have returned.

Is anyone even still reading this? I got ONE six-word review last chapter. I mean, obviously Ariza's MIA for a bit longer, but she isn't my only reader, right? If you're still reading this fanfic, please review. Authors love reviews.

I'm too tired to do a fun note. Enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Ellie had never liked grinders. After all, the only thing they really did was suck all the challenge and what little fun there was out of fighting monsters.

But after this, she _really_ hated grinders.

It seemed like the mobs wouldn't stop coming. They probably wouldn't have even been fighting them if the group hadn't killed the grinder. Unfortunately, they had. They'd caused creepers to explode so many holes that this damn grinder didn't even function anymore.

It didn't help that half the time, Ellie was watching to make sure Petra didn't die. From a distance, because she would never let her look after her if she knew about it. She'd always been that kind of person-the one who didn't take help from anyone, not even when she needed it. It probably ran in the family.

Petra seemed to be holding her own pretty well despite everything, but Ellie was keeping an eye on her anyway. Just in case something went wrong. Because so many things had gone wrong already that she wouldn't have put it past the world to just snap its fingers (if the world even had fingers, which it would have to have for this metaphor to work) and fuck things up even more than they had already been fucked up.

* * *

How they'd wound up in the water at the bottom of the grinder, nobody was all that sure.

From what Petra could gather, this guy's grinder had somehow been further destroyed. The pistons that were clearly used to smash monsters and that would've smashed everyone if things had gone differently had been destroyed. A creeper, probably. In any case, the pistons were gone, and everyone had quickly jumped in. The amulet was retrieved, although Petra couldn't say that she was all that happy about the means used to get it.

Unfortunately, they hadn't prepared for the tunnels in the water to suck them in.

All at once, it was dark. Everyone had been separated. The current was so strong, it had sent them all in different directions.

The only thing Petra could do was hold her breath and pray to Notch that this wasn't the end.

She supposed Notch listened, because after a few minutes (She didn't know how she didn't suffocate), the water went into a downwards tunnel, and then it formed a sort of waterfall, and they landed on the floor. Hard.

They all just sat there for a few moments, taking gasps of air. "Holy shit." Ellie muttered, standing up.

"That marks the last time I ever go in water." Olivia said, and the rest of them nodded in agreement.

"I thought water was supposed to _break_ a fall." Lukas commented.

"It is. It just didn't." Petra replied dryly.

"Uh, has anyone seen Axel?" Jesse asked.

There was no response.

That was when there was the sound of someone screaming. And then there was a waterfall, and then Axel fell. On Lukas.

"No, no, don't worry. I'm totally fine." Axel said.

"I mean, you had a little landing pad there, so I didn't really expect anything else." Ellie deadpanned, wringing out her hair.

"Why?" Lukas managed.

Axel looked down. "Oh, crap. I'm sorry."

Thankfully, Axel quickly got up off of Lukas, so he didn't suffocate to death.

They already had a group member who was undeniably fucked. With Petra's certain death coming quickly and unbeknownst to the others, they definitely didn't need someone being sat on until he died.

Besides, she figured it would be a really shitty way to go, wouldn't it?

After Axel got up, she didn't waste any time. It was time to figure out what in Notch's name had been going through Jesse's mind when she'd chosen that amulet over her friends.

Both Axel and Lukas were immediately shoved to the side by Petra. Don't ask how she managed to even make them stumble a couple inches with her weakened body. She couldn't tell you. Adrenaline, maybe. "So, Jesse, mind explaining what the fuck is wrong with you?"

Jesse looked surprised for a moment, but she then responded, "I could ask you the same damn thing! You look like you have some sort of terminal illness!" If she only knew.

"That's not the point!" Petra snapped.

"Then what _is_ the point?" Jesse demanded.

"The point is that you went after that fucking trinket instead of your friends!" Petra exclaimed.

"This?" Jesse held up the amulet. "Well, excuse me for wanting to take down the Witherstorm! Do you _know_ how lost we would've been without the amulet?"

"How lost would you have been if Reuben and Axel had died?" Petra retorted.

Jesse's eyes narrowed. "Don't _ever_ go there. Neither of them died, and that's what matters."

"Yeah, but what if? We've had a few close calls so far, Jesse, and who knows if we're going to keep getting this lucky? I get that we need the amulet, but you need to remember what's really important here."

"What gives you the right to talk about what's really important?" Jesse scoffed.

"I don't fucking know! What took away that right?"

"Here's a little hint: you'll get it back if you tell us why the hell you look like you're at death's door!"

Petra would've screamed some sort of retaliation at her, but that was when there was a weird noise.

"Sounds like the grinder is backed up." Olivia said matter-of-factly.

"With loot?" Axel questioned.

That was when mobs appeared everywhere. Literally _everywhere_.

Well, that sure as hell answered Axel's question.

They all tried to make a run for it, but let's just say it didn't end well and they wound up fighting the mobs anyway.

After a couple near-death experiences and some fighting, they made it into the next room. And, well, most of the group made it out.

(Read "most of the group" as "literally everyone except Petra".)

They probably would have left her to die to zombies if someone hadn't noticed her at the last second.

After Jesse saved her sorry ass (Petra remembered when she'd saved Jesse's once) and gave her a concerned expression, they all jumped into an End portal.

That's right. They went to the End.

No, Petra didn't like it either.

Axel somehow managed to land on Lukas yet again.

Unfortunately, it looked to Petra like it had deeply scarred Lukas somehow, because almost immediately after Axel got off of Lukas, he started making noises that sounded suspiciously like crying. "Oh, Jeb…oh man…"

Jesse walked over to Lukas. "Crap, are you okay?"

Lukas looked up. "What? No, I'm not crying, just _look!_ "

Why he told them to look, Petra didn't have a damn clue. Because when they turned around, there were Endermen. A _lot_ of Endermen.

Like anyone with a little common sense did in the face of Endermen, they looked down and ran. Once they were behind a pillar of obsidian (hell if any of them knew what it was there for), Lukas asked, "So, uh, what exactly do we call that? A herd of Endermen? A flock?"

Jesse shrugged. "Pretty sure it's a haunting. But right now, all that matters is that there's a crapload of them."

"We might want to hold off on the grammar lessons until later." Olivia said. "Which way are we headed, Jesse?"

Jesse took out the amulet. It glowed brightly for a moment, but then started to crackle and flicker. Jesse shook it, but that didn't stop it from quickly going out completely.

"Stuff like that doesn't work in the Nether." Before Petra could finish her statement, Jesse responded.

"But we're not in the Nether." She pointed out.

"Yeah, well, logic says that it probably doesn't work in the End, either." Petra finished.

"Great." Lukas scoffed. "So we were trapped, and now we're lost. So we go from a notchdamn death machine that almost drowns us, and we land here. _In the End._ "

"At least we're alive…and well." Well, most of them were, anyway. Jesse continued, "We just have to keep on trucking until we get to Soren."

Lukas sighed, shaking his head. "Face it, Jesse, we might never find this guy."

"There he is." Axel said. The group all looked in the direction he was pointing, and sure enough, Soren was climbing a staircase in the distance.

"Did that just happen? I can't believe that just happened. Am I the only one that's surprised?" Lukas asked.

Ellie shook her head. "This is, quite possibly, the most cliche thing to ever happen to me."

"Well, that's where we're headed, then." Jesse said simply.

"Everyone, f-" Petra had taken approximately two steps when Ellie grabbed her right arm, and she wouldn't let go.

"No." Ellie muttered to her.

"But-"

"No!"

This was Petra's life on the line here. Shouldn't this have been her choice? She thought so, but Ellie clearly didn't, and Ellie seemed to be the dominant one out of the two sisters.

"Well, follow me, I guess." Jesse said, stepping forward awkwardly.

"Actually, you know what? I'll just go." Lukas said.

"Okay, follow Lukas, everyone. And let's pick up the pace, okay?" Jesse instructed after a short pause.

And the six young adults did just that. They covered their eyes and made their way through the Endermen, Lukas leading them.

"Nice moves back there, Lukas." Petra complimented.

Lukas chuckled. "Thanks."

And that was when there was a collective groan from the group. Because they had come to a huge flight of stairs.

"Great. We're going to die and it won't even be cool or worth it." Ellie scoffed.

"Don't be like that. It's just stairs." Jesse said.

With that, they started climbing the stairs.

As Petra had expected, she was already tired by the end of the first flight, and about halfway through the next one she was about ready to keel the fuck over.

Ellie had been going slowly to match the younger girl's pace, and now she asked, "Can you make it?"

Petra paused for a moment, coughing a little and panting. "Yeah. I'm good. Just give me a minute to catch my breath."

Ellie nodded. "Of course." She sounded a little pissed, but Petra decided to ignore it. That is, until she continued, "You're always good, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"No, I actually don't." It wasn't really a lie. Petra had an idea of what she meant, but she wasn't positive. At least, that was what she told herself.

"Ugh, forget it." Ellie scoffed. "You're sure you can make it? Because I'm happy to help."

"Positive."

* * *

Was she stupid?

Crazy?

Overly confident?

Something else entirely?

There was no logical explanation for why she was acting the way she was.

Maybe Ellie wasn't the best judge, but she knew that if she was sick like that, she wouldn't be keeping it such a fucking secret. And logic said she wasn't alone in those thoughts.

Besides, anyone with half a brain could see that her sister was far from fine. All she was accomplishing by not telling anyone was slowly making them worry more and more.

Besides, she was just going to make herself sicker if she kept pushing herself like this.

Regardless, Ellie knew there was no way she could convince Petra to accept her help if she rejected it. She was stubborn as a mule-to be fair, Ellie was, too. Maybe it ran in the family, or maybe it just came from having their upbringing.

So they made their way up the remainder of the stairs. Ellie did her best to ignore Petra's breathing, which was so labored that she could hear it if she listened a little more closely.

"There's a ladder!" Jesse panted after what felt to Ellie like forever but was really only around a few minutes.

Well, time doesn't exactly fly when you're on a staircase in the End and your sister looks about ready to keel over.

"It had better not be a long one." Axel grumbled.

"Whatever this is, it looks like the way in." Petra stated.

"After you, dude." Axel said.

Jesse climbed up the ladder. Once she disappeared into whatever was above the group, she didn't say anything for a few short moments.

"What do you see?" Lukas called.

" _Please_ don't say more stairs." Petra groaned.

"Um…" Jesse paused. "You guys aren't going to like this."

"What?" Ellie asked, worried.

"There's…uh…more stairs."

Everyone exclaimed different things at once, and Ellie couldn't make anything out. All she knew was that she'd said, "No fucking way."

There was silence for a few moments. Nobody wanted to go back to climbing the stairs, so they all just stood around there.

Then there was laughter. It sounded like…Jesse.

"How is this funny?" Ellie demanded.

"No…it's-it's not." Jesse managed through uncontrollable giggles. "It's just…holy _crap,_ your reactions…"

"You should probably save your breath for climbing all those stairs." Olivia pointed out. She did have a point there, Ellie thought.

"That's just it." Jesse laughed. "There _are_ no stairs."

"What? But you said-" Lukas was cut off by Jesse.

"I was screwing with you. I wanted to hear how you would react."

Nobody spoke.

"Oh my Notch…you are fucking evil." Ellie broke the silence.

"Well, in all seriousness, I think I'm hallucinating."

"Great. So there are stairs." Petra muttered.

"It's like a whole new world up here!" Jesse exclaimed. "And no, that's not your cue to burst into song. It's just a brand new, totally unspoiled world!"

The five others gradually made their way up. Against her will, Ellie started blinking about five million times a second while her eyes adjusted to the sudden burst of light.

Of course, Axel tripped and fell on Lukas again.

Oh, and this all felt really weird.

Not mentally-well, it did feel weird mentally, but that was beside the point-but physically. The ground felt almost squishy. But grass wasn't squishy-at least, not the last time Ellie had checked. Maybe being in the End had an effect on it.

"Guys, this is made of wool!" Jesse exclaimed all of a sudden. "The trees, the grass, it's-it's all wool!" They all made their way to the center of the utopia.

"Wait, pause. You're telling me that we've been resting _all_ our hopes on this guy, and the whole time he's been building some totally artificial Happyland?!" Lukas exclaimed.

"Well, it's real wool." Axel pointed out.

"Yes, and this real wool is real evidence that Soren is whacked." Lukas scoffed.

"Maybe he just missed home?" Jesse suggested halfheartedly. It was obvious to all of them that she didn't believe what she was saying.

"If you miss home, you're supposed to go visit. You're not supposed to build an exact notchdamn replica. If this guy is crazy enough to build this fake world, then chances are, we came here for _nothing!_ What are we even supposed to _do_ now?!" Lukas stormed off.

"We came here for Soren, and for his Formidi-Bomb." Jesse reminded him. "That's still the plan."

"Just look around, Jesse! If the greatest builder of all time has spent years working on _this_ , what are the chances he's even going to have that bomb, huh? I don't know about you guys, but I've had _enough_ crazy for one day."

Ellie couldn't help but wonder: what was up with _him?_

Petra voiced her exact thoughts to Jesse. "What's _his_ problem? Because he seems pretty upset. Think maybe he's allergic to wool?"

Jesse shook her head. "I don't think that's it, but I haven't got a damn clue what's eating him."

After that, they all kind of separated around the wool world.

Petra had somehow managed to look even worse than before. No, Ellie hadn't thought it possible either. But she was pale as a fucking ghost now, and she looked like she hadn't slept in years. Ellie could tell just by looking at her that she wanted to collapse on the ground.

To put it simply, she looked to Ellie like she was on the verge of death.

Someone had to know about this, and fast.

* * *

"What do you want?" Lukas scowled.

What _did_ she want? A million answers ran through Jesse's head. _The lever. To know what's wrong with Petra. To know what's wrong with you. To just kill that notchdamn Witherstorm already._ In the end, she settled on the lovely answer of, "The hell's your problem, Lukas?"

He sighed. "Listen, I know I've been prickly, okay? But Jesse, I think something's wrong. With Petra." They both turned to look at her. She didn't seem to notice them, but they sure as hell noticed her. She looked horrible. "I mean, there's no way you haven't noticed. She's been so tired, and the coughing fits…"

"Lukas, I've noticed. And I-I wish I could tell you." Jesse said. "Oh my Notch, you have no damn idea how much I want to tell you."

"Then why don't you?" He scoffed.

"I can't tell you, Lukas, because _I don't know._ I asked before we left, but she wouldn't tell me anything. Let's face it: if she won't tell you, there's no way in hell that she would tell me."

Lukas looked at Jesse strangely. "What do you mean?"

"Don't act like you aren't totally in love with her." Jesse deadpanned.

Lukas turned bright red. "I-you-she- _what?!_ " He sputtered.

"I know I give off the vibe of an airheaded dork, Lukas, but I'd like to say that I'm actually fairly smart. I'm also not deafblind. Because you'd have to be deafblind and dumb to not notice after all these years."

"Jesse, I will neither confirm nor deny any of this, but don't change the subject."

"Fine." Jesse rolled her eyes. "Well, if she hasn't told you, there's only one other person she would tell."

Their gazes traveled to the oldest and least likeable member of their group. She wouldn't have looked particularly threatening if you didn't know her, but anyone who knew her was fully aware that she could and would kick your ass if you gave her a reason. And she defined a lot of things as being a reason.

"If you want to know what's wrong with her, I think it's either talk to her or talk to Ellie." Jesse said.

Lukas shook his head. "I am _not_ talking to Ellie, and there's no way Petra will tell me anything."

"I don't like it any more than you."

"Jesse, do you know that the first time Ellie saw me talking to Petra, she told me I had thirty seconds to explain myself before she made me wish I was never born? I was _nine_. I don't know how, but she manages to confuse me, terrify me, and piss me off at the same time. I'd really prefer not to talk to her."

"She gave me ten. Stop complaining."

"Ten, thirty, she's still most likely some level of insane."

"Well, the point isn't whether Ellie's sane or not." Jesse said. "The point is that it's either talk to her, who might kick your ass, or talk to Petra, who might or might not tell you things. And as much as I'd like to join you here, I'm...not exactly their favorite person, if you couldn't tell. You're not gonna get any information if I'm there."

Lukas rolled his eyes. "Look, Jesse, I don't know you that well, but I always got the impression that you were at least a little bit of an optimist. Am I wrong?"

Jesse shook her head. "No, you're right. But optimism doesn't mean totally ignoring the truth. As I stated before, I'm not stupid."

"Never said you were." Lukas responded. "Well, wish me luck."

"Good luck. I'm gonna keep trying to get us out of here and to Soren."

"Alright, you do that. I'll try to get some information."

* * *

"Ugh, what do you need?"

The good news was that Ellie didn't seem angry about anything. The bad news was that it would probably only take one misunderstanding to make her angry.

"Okay, I don't know if you know the answer to this, or if you'll tell me if you do, but-"

"Get to the point." She snapped. "You came to me for a reason, now what's that reason?"

"Alright." Lukas said. "It's about Petra. I think something's wrong with her, and if there's anyone she would tell, it's you."

"Notch..." Ellie sighed, "Yeah, that's not exactly a wild goose chase."

"So something _is_ wrong." Lukas muttered. "What is it?"

"Fuck, Petra's gonna hate me for this," she said before looking back at him. "It was the Witherstorm. It infected her. She finally told me when we were back in Soren's fortress-when we split up-and she wasn't exactly doing great then, and it's only been getting worse."

"Oh my Notch..." Thoughts raced through Lukas's mind at about a mile a minute, but one prominent one was, "Why didn't she say anything?"

"She said it was because she didn't want to worry anyone." Ellie responded.

"Well, it was a bit of a convoluted way to do it, wasn't it?" Lukas ranted. "I mean, she didn't tell me a thing, but that didn't exactly stop me from freaking out, did it?" It didn't quite register that he was talking to someone who could kick his ass easily until after he was done.

"She's stubborn." Ellie scowled. "You should go talk to her."

"If she won't listen to you about this, why would she listen to me?" Lukas questioned.

"Lukas, I know Petra like I know myself." Ellie said simply. "Just trust me on this, okay?"

"Alright." He nodded. "…thanks."

"Not much of a problem."

* * *

"I know what's up with you."

 _Fuck._

She knew Lukas was smart, but she'd been hoping it would take a _bit_ longer for him to figure it out.

 _Okay, Petra. Play dumb. You can still keep this a secret._

"The hell are you talking about?"

Lukas crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at her. "C'mon, Petra, let's not go that route. You and I both know what I'm talking about."

"No, you don't," she insisted.

"Petra, I know I'm not wrong about this. Please, just tell me the truth," he begged.

And in that instant, it was just too much. The Witherstorm, Ellie's thinly veiled fear at the all-too-real prospect of losing her sister, her own sickness that was getting increasingly hard to hide and ignore, _Notch,_ she was sick of it.

"…fine." Petra looked up, finally meeting his eyes. "You're right. The Witherstorm did it." She paused. "How'd you know?"

Lukas hesitated. "Try not to get mad."

"Lukas, I'm never mad at you." She assured him.

"Alright…Ellie told me."

"…she what."

"I said, she t-"

"I heard you." Petra snapped, and Lukas flinched. "I just couldn't seem to wrap my head around how I specifically said _not_ to tell, and she just turned around and told someone!"

"Look, Petra, I don't get it." Lukas said. "Why haven't you told anyone else? Ellie said you didn't want to worry them, but I'd like to think you're at least more logical than that."

"No, she was right."

"Well, you had a bad method of not worrying us!" He scoffed. "We're watching you die with no clue why it's happening; if that's not worrying, I don't know what is!"

"I'm not dying!" She exclaimed. "For the love of Notch, I'm _fine!_ "

Lukas raised an eyebrow. "Look me in the eye and tell me you feel perfectly fine right now."

Petra met his gaze. "Alright. I feel perfectly f-" She probably would've done it if she hadn't been cut off mid-sentence by a violent coughing fit.

Upon catching her breath, there was really no point in finishing that statement. It was safe to say that he wouldn't believe her if she tried.

"Alright, I'm just going to use a bit of an an analogy here. Imagine you're reading a book, or watching a movie, or consuming some other form of fictional media." Lukas started. "And one of the characters is pale as a ghost, has been described as tired, and is hacking their lungs out every few sentences. What's your assumption for that character?"

"They're a vampire?" She offered.

"What's your realistic assumption for that character?"

"…they're sick." Petra admitted defeat.

"Exactly. So why do you expect us to believe anything else?"

"Because…"

"Don't say you're fine, because we both know that's about as far from truth as you can get."

"It's not that I expect you to believe something else so much as I'm just hoping you believe something else until the Witherstorm's dead." She confessed.

"Why? Why in Notch's name would you _hope_ that nobody figures it out?"

"Haven't we been over this?" Petra responded. "We need to focus on killing the Witherstorm, not on keeping me alive. I don't need anyone's help, but if the others knew, they'd try and give it."

"Is that really such a bad thing?" He challenged.

"Yes! There's nothing anyone can do! It would just be a notchdamn waste of time, something we do _not_ have a lot of!"

"It's okay to ask for help if you need it, you know that?"

There was an uncomfortable pause before Petra finally responded, "Not if there's nothing help can do."

"There _is_ , though."

"Yeah? Like what?" Her tone dripped with sarcasm. "Ya got some miraculous cure-all for diseases? Because if not, then I can't think of much for you to do."

"Look, I'm not saying I can make you better." Lukas sighed. "I'm not even saying there's much of anything I can do to make any of this better. But what I'm saying is if there is, I want you to let me know. Okay?"

"We don't need any more distractions-"

"Nope. None of that. As far as this group goes, we've got a 'no man-or _wo_ man-left behind' policy. That goes for you, too. I think we all prefer the alive you to the dead you."

"…alright, you win this time." Her eyes had gone dull, but they gained a sort of spark then. "But don't think I'll go as easy on you next time."

Lukas laughed. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

And before she knew what was happening, he was kissing her. There was actual, physical contact between their mouths, and she'd seriously cooled down because he was a normal temperature and a lot warmer than her, and for the love of Notch, he was _kissing her._

Then a few seconds later it was over, and it was like it had never happened. They just stared at each other for a few moments before they heard Jesse call, "Hey, guys, I think I found the way out!" Sure enough, when they looked over at her, she was standing by an opening in the wool wall.

"Alright, then." Lukas smiled at her, and if she had been more of a sap her insides probably would've turned to jelly. Luckily, she was definitely _not_ a sap, so her insides did not become fit to put on a sandwch with peanut butter. "Let's go."

Still wondering what the hell had just happened, Petra followed Lukas to the exit of this strange utopia.

* * *

…I tried.

I failed, yeah, but at least I tried.

Hopefully SOMEONE enjoyed. There's nothing much to respond to this chapter as far as reviews go; how about we change that for next time? ;)

Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
